Law lords to hear Iraq inquiry appeal
Iraq-UK, Politics, 2/12/2008

The families of British soldiers killed in Iraq are trying for a third time to force the UK government to set up an independent inquiry over the legality of former prime minister Tony Blair's decision to join the 2003 war.

Two bereaved mothers Rose Gentle and Beverley Clarke are asking a rarely convened panel of nine law lords, representing the UK's highest court, to look at steps the government took in the run-up to the invasion to ensure the war complied with international law.

The law lords are due to hear the appeal next week after previous legal challenges to force an inquiry based on human rights failed in London's High Court and Court of Appeal.

Judges ruled that the European convention was concerned only with domestic, not international, rights, and that there were some areas, such as waging war, which were matters for the executive, not the courts.

"The law lords will have to decide whether there are any questions of law that are out of bounds simply because, although potential or actual violations of human rights are involved, the context is a political one," the mothers' lawyer said.

"Whether the invasion of Iraq was lawful is the most important unanswered question of this generation," said Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers.

The Guardian newspaper suggested that the fact that nine law lords, instead of the usual five, are set to hear the case underlines its constitutional importance.

Last June, Shiner led a historic legal challenge that led to law lords ruling that the conduct of British troops in Iraq and other countries is subjected to human rights law.

Previous Stories:
  Drop in Iraq Basra violence after UK withdrawal   (1/22/2008)
  UK denies leaving Basra is a retreat   (12/18/2007)
  Brown on Iraq held British hostages   (12/11/2007)

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