MoD criticised for limiting inquests into civilian deaths in military custody

‘Quasi-inquests’ into just 11 cases, despite rulings that allegedly unlawful deaths should be subject to coroner-type hearings

Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, has been accused of severely curtailing the number of public inquests into civilians alleged to have been unlawfully killed by the British military.

The Ministry of Defence said it plans to hold “quasi-inquests” into just 11 cases, despite an outstanding number of up to 150 further claims of deaths in custody.

The decision appears to contradict a ground-breaking judgment and a judicial review ruling that alleged unlawful deaths of civilians at the hands of British officers should be subject of hearings modelled on coroners’ inquests.

Phil Shiner, a solicitor from Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), said the MoD was engaged in a “seriously wrong effort” to, in effect, rewrite the judgments to fit their own purposes.

He added: “[MoD officials] have been told by a very senior court that they must get on with the job of investigating and holding inquest-type hearings into hundreds of unlawful killings and torture cases. Their response now is to refuse to do more than hold 11 ‘mini-inquests’ into the small number of deaths in custody cases we put to the court.

“There are many more Baha Mousa-type deaths in custody cases the MoD knows about let alone all the other deaths and torture cases where PIL are acting.”

In May, the high court concluded that hearings modelled on coroners’ inquests were the best way for the British authorities to meet their obligations under article 2 of the European convention on human rights (ECHR), which protects the right to life.

This judgment was upheld by a judicial review in October.

The court also ruled that this should be just the start of the process by which public hearings will examine the alleged misconduct of some members of the British armed forces who served in Iraq.

Following the completion of the article 2 hearings – into allegedly unlawful killings – further hearings should be established to meet the UK’s obligations under article 3 of the ECHR, the court said.

But the examination of torture and abuse claims have also been thrown into doubt. Jonathan Duke-Evans, the head of claims, judicial reviews and public inquiries in the Ministry of Defence, told a House of Lords committee last month that such inquiries were not compulsory.

When asked about the need for inquiries, he told the select committee: “There is an open question as yet about whether it is necessary to go through any of these procedures in relation to article 3 cases, of which there are some very severe ones.”

An MoD official said the court stipulated – and Hammond has agreed – that the cases where a death was alleged required a more detailed examination and that a coroner-style process should be set up.

Serious allegations of mistreatment will be investigated by the Iraq Historic Allegations Team with a view to prosecution where appropriate, the official added.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson: “We have already started to organise 11 quasi-inquests into cases of deaths in British custody as directed by the …read more