Ruling paves way for Iraq killings inquiry

A soldier on patrol in Iraq. Photo / Supplied

A public inquiry into the alleged ill-treatment and unlawful killings of Iraqi civilians by British troops is a step closer after a landmark European judgment granted them permission to seek redress in the British High Court.

Public interest lawyers, who are representing hundreds of Iraqis, described yesterday's ruling by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights, Europe's highest court, as a historic day for human rights.

The Ministry of Defence will now face questions about the deaths of children like Hanaan Salih Matrood, an 8-year-old girl who died after being shot by a British patrol while she played near her home in 2003.

Jim Duffy, a lawyer, said: "The court's judgment sends a clear message: wherever soldiers or other state agents act, they must do so whilst upholding, not violating, human rights. The violence, religious degradation, sexual abuse and, in many cases, gratuitous killing suffered by our clients must now be confronted."

The judgment overturns a ruling by the House of Lords in 2007 that there was no such human rights jurisdiction surrounding the deaths of five civilians in Basra because it was outside of Britain's borders.

The British military was accused of failing to properly investigate their deaths.

In a double blow for the Government, the court also ordered the Ministry of Defence to pay Hilal Abdul-Razzaq Ali Al Jedda 25,000 ($43,000) in compensation and 40,000 in legal costs, after ruling that his three-year imprisonment violated his human rights. British armed forces detained hundreds of civilians in Iraq without charge.

- Independent