British High Court Allows Iraqis to Challenge Death Cases

A legal challenge to the government's refusal to hold independent inquiries into the deaths of 12 Iraqi civilians, allegedly at the hands of British troops in Basra, was approved yesterday.

The High Court ruling coincided with a report from Amnesty International claiming British forces had shot and killed 37 Iraqi civilians when they were under no apparent threat. Downing Street insisted all the incidents - including the killing of an eight-year-old girl - had been, or were being, investigated.

But Amnesty claimed it was not sufficient for the Ministry of Defence to rely on "behind closed doors" investigations by the Royal Military Police. "Instead of the army deciding whether to investigate itself when civilians are killed, there must be a full, impartial and civilian-led investigation into all allegations of killings by UK troops," Kate Allen, Amnesty's UK director, said.

Pressure on the government over the issue was increased by Mr Justice Collins's decision that the families of the dead civilians had an "arguable case". The claim was filed in the High Court only last week but the judge instructed that the hearing should take place before the end of July. The judicial review will test two issues. The first is whether the European Convention on Human Rights applies in a foreign country under some form of occupation by British troops. The second is whether the "right to life" - article 2 of the convention - had been violated, and whether that required the government to investigate.

Yesterday, Rabinder Singh, QC, appearing for the families, said there appeared to be "a distressingly large number of civilian killings" at issue, with the MoD acknowledging 37 deaths since May 1 last year.

The claimants intend to add one further case to their claim - that of Baha Mousa, a hotel receptionist who allegedly died in custody after being beaten by British troops when he was arrested. Mr Singh said this should help test whether the legal ground was different if deaths occurred in custody.