In a double blow to the UK government, the European Court of Human Rights on Thursday found the UK liable and guilty of human rights abuse and failing to investigate deaths of Iraqi civilians in British custody. The two landmark rulings will have wide-ranging consequences for military operations around the world.

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The court in Strasbourg ruled that the three-year internment of an Iraqi man, Ali Al Jedda by British forces in Iraq violated his fundamental rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The UK detained hundreds of other civilians in Iraq without charge in similar circumstances. This judgement followed the historic ruling in another case brought by relatives which held that the UK had failed to investigate a number of deaths of Iraqi civilians.

Torture
Al Jedda was granted asylum and British citizenship in 2000. In 2004 he was arrested at his sister’s house in Iraq and taken to a British detention facility in Basra, where he said he was tortured and abused by British forces. The British authorities maintained that his detention was necessary for security reasons and that Al Jedda was involved in terrorism, but no charges were ever brought against him. However, he remained in British custody in Iraq for over three years.

Fundamental right
The European Court decided that Al Jedda’s three year detention without charge was unlawful and in breach of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights which protects an individual’s fundamental right to be free from arbitrary detention. The court said the internment of Al Jedda was attributable to the UK and not the United Nations as the UK government had argued.

More compensation
The court also found that UN Security Council Resolution 1546 which authorised the UK to “take all necessary measures to contribute to the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq” did not require the UK to breach fundamental human rights. One of the defence lawyers, Phil Shiner, said this case opens the door to more such compensation claims.
“This is a landmark decision which confirms that the UK practice in Iraq of detaining civilians without charge for years on end was in clear violation of their fundamental rights. We represent hundreds of clients who were similarly detained and we will now be seeking to ensure that they too receive the justice they deserve,” said Shiner. Lawyers will now press for a UK public inquiry.

Factsheet: Extra-territorial jurisdiction