Iraq

British troops accused of the unlawful killing of civilians were governed by Europe's human rights convention

British troops accused of the unlawful killing of civilians in Iraq were governed by Europe's human rights convention, the European Court of Human Rights ruled today.

The UK government had tried to claim soldiers weren't subject to Europe's human rights convention because they were beyond the jurisdiction at the time.

The judges at the court in Strasbourg declared that in the "exceptional circumstances", when UK forces assumed responsibility for security in parts of Iraq, they remained under the jurisdiction of rules obliging signatory member states including the UK to safeguard the right to life and liberty.

The landmark judgment overturns a House of Lords majority ruling four years ago that there was no UK human rights jurisdiction regarding the deaths or wrongful detention of six civilians whose relatives took their cases to court.