Tag: human rights

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UK ordered to hold inquests into civilian deaths during Iraq war

By Sharon Black

High court rules that up to 161 allegedly unlawful killings by British military should be subject of coroner-style hearings A series of public inquests should be held into the deaths of civilians who are alleged to have been killed unlawfully by the British military following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the high court has ruled. In a ground-breaking judgment that could have an impact on how the British military is able to conduct operations among civilians in the future, the court ruled on Friday that up to 161 deaths should be the subject of hearings modelled upon coroners’ inquests.

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Iraqi prisoners with gunshot wounds received no pain relief, public inquiry hears

By Sharon Black

Cases of insurgents captured by the UK military after 2004 battle in south-east Iraq being heard at al-Sweady inquiry in London British military doctors failed to give any pain relief to Iraqi insurgents with gunshot wounds – although they did check their pulses and breathing before they were sent for interrogation, a public inquiry into allegations of murder and the abuse of unarmed prisoners by UK forces heard on Thursday. One man who had three bullet wounds and several shrapnel wounds to his right leg and foot says he told an army doctor that he was “in agony”, but his detention record showed that he received no analgesics.

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Iraqis captured by UK troops ‘were told they had been taken to Abu Ghraib’

By Sharon Black

Al-Sweady inquiry into allegations against British troops hears captured Iraqis were played recordings of screams to scare them Iraqis captured by British troops were told they had been taken to the notorious Abu Ghraib prison, used by Saddam Hussein and after the invasion by US forces, and said recordings of screams as though someone was being tortured were played to scare them, a public inquiry into allegations of murder and abuse of unarmed prisoners by UK forces heard on Wednesday. The prisoners alleged they were abused and humiliated after they were taken from a camp north of Basra to a British detention centre at Shaibah further south, Jonathan Acton Davis QC, counsel to the al-Sweady inquiry, said.

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Iraqis’ death certificates recorded signs of severe mutilation, inquiry hears

By Sharon Black

Al-Sweady inquiry into accusations against British troops opens with evidence of alleged signs of torture on prisoners A public inquiry into allegations that British troops murdered up to 20 unarmed prisoners and tortured five others following a fierce battle with Iraqi insurgents has opened in London with evidence that some of their death certificates recorded what were described as signs of severe mutilation. Several of the deceased were said to bear signs of torture after their corpses were handed back to their families by British personnel at Camp Abu Naji, while the Iraqi death certificates recorded that one man’s penis had been removed and two bodies were missing eyes, the inquiry was told on Monday. But there is a “stark dispute” between the relatives of the dead men and the Ministry of Defence over the way in which the deaths occurred, said Jonathan Acton Davis QC, counsel to the inquiry.

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British soldiers protected under human rights law, supreme court told

By Sharon Black

Families challenging ruling that soldiers conducting operations outside their base are not covered by convention British soldiers have the right, enshrined in European human rights law, to expect the government to take all reasonable steps to prevent them getting killed, the supreme court heard on Monday, in a case with profound implications for military commanders and their conduct of future operations. Families of soldiers killed in Iraq by roadside bombs while travelling in vulnerable Land Rovers and by “friendly fire” when in a Challenger tank accuse the Ministry of Defence of breaching the European human rights convention by not providing adequate equipment.