‘An army veteran has been paid £50,000 in compensation by Bedfordshire police after he was Tasered while suffering a flashback triggered by post-traumatic stress disorder.’
The Guardian, 15th September 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The news last month that Public Interest Lawyers, the firm which brought a host of discredited cases alleging abuse by British serviceman in Iraq, is to be wound up has been met with applause by the press and service community. These claims culminated in the Al Sweady Inquiry which considered allegations of war crimes and abuse by British troops in Iraq in 2004. The allegations were found to be “baseless” and claims of torture and murder were “wholly without foundation” and “entirely the product of deliberate lies, reckless speculation and ingrained hostility” from some Iraqi witnesses. It has prompted calls for the suspension of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) on the “battlefield” and a general attack on lawyers meddling or challenging affairs involving “war”. That reaction is understandable; however, it would be an enormous mistake to conclude that the law only interferes with the military doing its job.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 7th September 2016
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
‘After months of rumours that staff were leaving the firm and that its founder Phil Shiner was buckling under of the pressure, Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) has announced its closure.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 30th August 2016
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
‘The question takes us straight to this week’s reported news that Phil Shiner’s Public Interest Lawyers is having to close.’
The Guardian, 16th August 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The law firm Public Interest Lawyers, which submitted multiple allegations of misconduct by British troops during the Iraq War, is to close.’
BBC News, 15th August 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘Hundreds of compensation claims against British soldiers are likely to be abandoned after a controversial law firm accused of “hounding” troops announced that it is closing.’
Daily Telegraph, 15th August 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘A young woman died in a car crash Tuesday after her vehicle was followed by police investigating reports of a drone being flown near Wandsworth Prison in London. The incident may be the first fatality linked to the non-military use of drones.’
The Independent, 9th August 2016
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘Much of the furore surrounding the Iraq war report focused on the failings of Tony Blair. But there were other, crucial findings that shouldn’t be ignored.’
The Guardian, 26th July 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Iraq Inquiry, chaired by Sir John Chilcot and composed of five privy councillors, finally published its report on the morning of 6 July, seven years and 21 days after it was established by Gordon Brown with a remit to ‘look at the run-up to the conflict, the conflict itself and the reconstruction, so that we can learn lessons’. It offers a long and painful account of an episode that may come to be seen as marking the moment when the UK fell off its global perch, trust in government collapsed and the country turned inward and began to disintegrate.’
London Review of Books, 28th July 2016
Source: www.lrb.co.uk
‘Defence companies have claimed £61m of expenditure from the taxpayer that was “potentially” not allowed under contract rules, a watchdog has said.’
BBC News, 14th July 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘In Rai v Ministry of Defence (HH Judge Mark Gargan sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, judgment handed down on 9 May 2016), the Court had to determine whether the Rome II Regulation 864/2007 applied and to identify what was the proper law of the tort (Alberta law being the law of the place of the accident, or English law). The Claimant was a serving Ghurkha who, as part of Adventurous Training, was sent to Canada. In Canada he received training provided by a Canadian company (“Lazy H Trail Limited”) contracted to provide services, under a contract governed by Alberta law, for the benefit of the British Army. The circumstances of the accident were that the Claimant was kicked by a horse on the first day of training, as he attempted to clean the horse’s hoof, thereby suffering a head injury. The Claimant brought a claim for breach of a non-delegable duty of care in negligence against the Ministry of Defence.’
Old Square Chambers, 16th June 2016
Source: www.oldsquare.co.uk
‘The government has rejected a proposed legal change that would have allowed for the Ministry of Defence to be prosecuted for corporate manslaughter over deaths during hazardous training such as the SAS exercise on the Brecon Beacons that claimed the lives of three reservists.’
The Guardian, 10th July 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘More than 7 years after Gordon Brown first announced that a public Inquiry would be conducted to identify lessons that could be learned from the Iraq conflict, the Chilcot report was finally published on7 July 2016. However, it was worth the wait. This post does not seek to summarise the report: there are many other good overviews (such as the BBC’s ). The report’s executive summary, in particular the key findings section, is also well worth a read. The intention is to cover in this and subsequent posts some of the key legal issues raised by the report. This post considers the relevance of the Chilcot report’s findings to the broader issue of whether Britain’s intervention in Iraq was legal – an issue which was not itself within the remit of the inquiry.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 7th July 2016
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘In R (on the application of Bancoult (No 2)) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2016] UKSC 35, the Supreme Court last week dismissed the attempt to set aside the House of Lord’s controversial 2008 decision in R (Bancoult) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (No 2) [2008] UKHL 61. The challenge was grounded in the disclosure of documents in the parallel proceedings of Bancoult No 3 relating to the reliability of a feasibility study into the long term viability of settlement in Chagos Islands.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 6th July 2016
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Sir John Chilcot’s long overdue, and extremely lengthy report, has the unenviable task of drawing a line under the deeply unpopular Iraq War.’
BBC News, 5th July 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘One of Britain’s leading experts in international law has said that the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war must deliver a convincing account of the mistakes that led to the 2003 conflict to help restore public trust in politics.’
The Guardian, 3rd July 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court will examine the Chilcot report for evidence of abuse and torture by British soldiers but have already ruled out putting Tony Blair on trial for war crimes.’
Daily Telegraph, 2nd July 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘A man who became obsessed with RAF jets flying training missions over his remote island home has been found guilty of endangering aircraft by shining a powerful torch at the planes.’
The Guardian, 30th June 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Chagos islanders, forcibly removed from their homes in 1971, have lost a legal challenge at the supreme court that could have speeded up their return.’
The Guardian, 29th June 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘A decades-long battle by the exiled people of the Chagos Islands to be allowed to return home will reach its conclusion on Wednesday.’
The Guardian, 26th June 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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