Top UK court rules on Iraqi deaths (human rights law doesn't apply to "collateral damage")

Barrett808

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Wed Jun-13-07 03:47 PM
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Top UK court rules on Iraqi deaths (human rights law doesn't apply to "collateral damage")

Source: Associated Press

Top UK court rules on Iraqi deaths
By ROBERT BARR, Associated Press Writer

LONDON - The House of Lords on Wednesday rejected claims by families of people killed in Iraq that European human rights law applied to the conduct of British troops throughout the country.

Such laws only applied to people held in custody by British troops, the House of Lords affirmed, refusing to extend that protection to those injured or killed by British soldiers on the streets of Iraq.

The issue arose in the case of six Iraqis who were killed by British troops in southern Iraq in separate incidents in 2003. The case was brought by the families of the victims.

The Lords upheld lower court rulings that human rights protections applied in the case of Baha Mousa, a Basra hotel clerk who died after being beaten while in British custody. ... However, the House of Lords found no reason to apply those protections to the other cases.

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OwnedByFerrets

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Wed Jun-13-07 04:07 PM
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1. Are they saying......

that its perfectly alright to kill civilians and no penalties apply??

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SteppingRazor

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Wed Jun-13-07 04:26 PM
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2. No, I believe the ruling states...

that in these particular instances, the British troops were in a war zone, where accidental civilian deaths are unavoidable, not in a controlled British jurisdiction, where the articles of the European Convention on Human Rights would apply.

In other words, no, they're not saying it's perfectly all right to just execute civilians. What they are saying is that civilian casualties happen in battles, and that the five deaths in question were not intentional abuses by the British, as opposed to the death of Baha Mousa, in which the British are obviously culpable, as he died in custody.

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Kagemusha

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Wed Jun-13-07 05:03 PM
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3. In shorter English, the laws of war which are rarely enforced, apply here.

Just not European human rights laws since those are not laws of war operating in a war zone.

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SteppingRazor

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Wed Jun-13-07 05:06 PM
Response to Reply #3

4. What you said.

:hi:

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Zhade

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Wed Jun-13-07 05:06 PM
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5. Absolutely shameful.

NT!

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Kagemusha

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Wed Jun-13-07 05:09 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. Well that's completely arguable too.

As I said in reply to another post, the laws of war that the European human rights laws are deferring to are VERY rarely enforced when it comes to collateral damage. Gee, wonder why.

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Kagemusha

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Wed Jun-13-07 05:56 PM
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7. Something else that I feel I should point out...

UK papers are going with a different emphasis: on the ruling that these European human rights obligations do apply when UK soldiers have physical custody of a person abroad. (Physical custody is the subject of habeas corpus hearings and the like.) This is new, whereas the old lack of application of such law, is not so new.

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struggle4progress

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Wed Jun-13-07 08:27 PM
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8. Lords' ruling sparks calls for Iraq prisoner abuse inquiry

Wed 13 Jun 2007
STEPHEN HOWARD

~snip~ The Lords upheld part of an appeal by relatives of hotel worker Baha Mousa, 26, who died while he was in British Army custody in 2003.

He is alleged to have died after he was tortured over a period of 36 hours while detained by British troops.

Courts martial cleared the soldiers in his case, but the ruling that he was covered by the European Convention on Human Rights could now force a public inquiry.

The Lords also ruled that five other Iraqi civilians killed in different incidents in Basra, who were not being detained, were not covered by human rights law. ~snip~

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=926492007

Informative article ...

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