JURIST - Paper Chase: Court authorizes judicial inquiry into alleged killing of Iraqi civilian by UK troops

[JURIST] A panel of High Court judges in London Tuesday allowed an appeal by the fanily of an Iraqi man against the UK government's refusal to allow a judicial inquiry into his alleged killing by British troops. Lawyers for Baha Mousa, a 28-year old hotel receptionist in Basra, say that he was beaten to death while in British custofy in September 2003, and that the British governments refusal of an inquiry was contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights [PDF]. Lawyers for the UK Ministry of Defence argued that Basra was outside of European jurisdiction, and thus the reach of the human rights agreement. In making the ruling, the judges also said that previous UK investigations of other Iraqi civilian deaths were inadequate, opening the way for further appeals. BBC News has more, including this video report. The text of the ruling is not yet available online.

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