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UK loses EU appeal on violating rights of Iraqi prisoners

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Oct 5, IRNA -- The British government has lost an appeal against an EU ruling when it was found guilty of violating the human rights of two Iraqis accused of murdering two UK soldiers in 2003.

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on Monday confirmed the judgment handed down in March 2010 was final when it unanimously found Faisal Al Saadoon and Khalaf Mufdhi were 'at real risk of being subjected to an unfair trial followed by execution by hanging' in Iraq.

“We had hoped that on receiving the judgment in March the government would accept the criticisms made and address its legal and moral failings,” said Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers (PIL), representing the two Iraqi prisoners.

“Instead much to the government’s shame it sought to appeal the decision,” Shiner said, telling IRNA that the UK must now do everything within its power to prevent the two Iraqis being subject to the death penalty and to enable them to be reunited with their families.

Al Saadoon and Khalaf Mufdhi are former officials of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, who were detained “for imperative reasons of security” in Basra by the British military in 2003 and held for three years without charge in solitary confinement.

During the detention, PIL said that they were “subjected to deliberate sleep deprivation, extreme heat, arbitrary body searches and physical abuse.”

It was not until 2006 that the two Iraqis were accused of killing two British bomb disposal experts Sapper Luke Allsopp and Staff Sergeant Simon Cullingworth shortly after the 2003 US-led invasion, even though both have consistently maintained their innocence.

Last December, they were finally transferred to Iraqi custody, despite PIL gaining an injunction at the EU court and without seeking any assurances that the applicants would not be subjected to the death penalty but be likely be hanged following an unfair trial.

“The UK Government states that it is opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances yet it purposefully transferred our clients to Iraqi custody where they faced being executed by hanging,” Shiner said.

PIL said the applicants have already once been acquitted due to lack of evidence but remain in Iraqi custody and continue to be fearful of being executed as a new investigation and retrial has been ordered.

It said the Iraqi authorities have still not given any binding assurance that they would not be executed and that the British government has not made any serious attempts to obtain such assurances.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30003935