Iraqi Civilian Shooting Claims Go to British Court

By Kate Kelland

Lawyers for six Iraqi families who allege their relatives were killed by British troops in post-war Iraq take their case to the High Court this week to argue that human rights laws were breached.

The cases involve five Iraqi civilians who were killed in shootings while going about their daily lives after the official end of the U.S.-led war on Iraq in May 2003.

One further case involves the death of Baha Mousa, an Iraqi former hotel receptionist who died in British custody after suffering what his lawyers claim were "severe beatings."

Mousa, 26, died in September 2003 after soldiers arrested him and seven other young Iraqis in the southern city of Basra. His body was returned to his family four days later battered and caked with blood.

Mousa’s nose and wrist were broken and bruises covered his body, his father Dawood told Reuters in October. Dawood said he believed Mousa, a father of two, had been tortured to death.

Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers, who is representing the families, said his clients needed to be informed of and involved in full investigations into their relatives’ deaths.

"None of my clients has been told that those responsible for the deaths of their relatives are being held accountable," he said in a statement.

"Nor have they been told of, or involved in, any investigations. Such failure falls far short of the government’s obligations under the Human Right Act."

A spokesman for Britain’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) said it would be "robustly" defending the case.

"We have every confidence in the existing legal framework in which our armed forces are operating," he told Reuters. "The MoD will defend this position robustly."

In a preliminary hearing at the High Court in May, the Iraqi families won the right to challenge the government’s refusal to open independent inquiries into the deaths.

At this week’s hearings, due to begin on Wednesday, lawyers will argue that because the Iraq war was officially over when the victims died, and because Britain was an occupying power, the European Convention on Human Rights should apply.

Britain joined the U.S. war on Iraq in March last year and President Bush declared the war over on May 1 2003.

"This case involves issues which are not only important to the victims and their families ... but is also extremely significant in having the capacity to ensure that future conflicts, occupations and peacekeeping operations are subject to human rights law," Shiner said.

Human rights campaigners Amnesty International published a report in May accusing British soldiers of killing Iraqi civilians — including an eight-year-old girl — when they posed no apparent threat.

Amnesty said UK troops had been involved in the killings of at least 37 civilians since May 1 2003. It highlighted the case of eight-year-old Hanan Saleh Matrud, shot dead on August 21, 2003 near her home village in southern Iraq. LONDON (Reuters)

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