No Guantanamo for Britain

In a decision that is bound to upset the Blair government and the British Ministry of Defence, the House of Lords has ruled that the British Human Rights Act and the European Convention on Human Rights do apply to British soldiers serving abroad.

The Law Lords made the ruling in a case of Baha Musa, an Iraqi hotel receptionist who died in September 2003 after being detained by British troops. The 4-1 decision rejecting an appeal by the Ministry of Defence means that a public inquiry may now be held into the Musa death.

The Blair government argued that the soldiers should not be subject to the British or European laws because they were serving in a conflict in a foreign country.

Human rights campaigners were elated by the decision, which they said held the government to account and meant any British detention facility anywhere in the world was now covered.

"Our law lords have today ensured that there can never be a British Guantanamo anywhere in the world ... there can be no British detention facility where the law does not apply," said Shami Chakrabarti of rights group Liberty.