138 Europe and Central Asia Summary of Amnesty International’s Concerns in the Region, January – June 2007 application; however he only did so when it became clear to him that it had no chance of being processed in time for any meaningful attendance at the hearing. AI considered that the failure of the UK authorities’ to grant Colonel Mousa a visa further compounded their failure to comply with their obligation under human rights law to ensure the involvement of the next of kin in the investigation into all the circumstances of his son’s death. The Al Skeini litigation arose as a result of the deaths of six Iraqi civilians at a time when, and in the areas of Iraq where, the UK was an Occupying Power under international humanitarian law. Five of the six Iraqis were shot and fatally wounded, in disputed circumstances, in the course of operations carried out by members of UK armed forces. The sixth death was that of Baha Mousa. In April, on the eve of the opening of the Al Skeini case, AI outlined its decision to intervene in the case jointly with 10 other organizations (see AI Index: EUR 45/007/2007) 10 . AI delegates then monitored the proceedings before the Law Lords. In June, the Law Lords dismissed five of the six cases. They ruled, however, that the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) did apply to the case of Baha Mousa, but only to his treatment while in detention, and directed that the case should return to the court of first instance, for it to determine whether there had been a violation of Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), enshrining, respectively, the rights to life and to freedom from torture. By the end of the period under review judicial proceedings had not had yet resumed, and the family of Baha Mousa continued to push for the government to 10 The interveners were represented, pro bono, by Keir Starmer QC, Richard Hermer and Azeem Suterwalla of Doughty Street Chambers, by Charles Banner of Landmark Chambers, and by Raju Bhatt of Bhatt Murphy Solicitors. Amnesty International agree to hold an independent inquiry into all of the circumstances of Baha Mousa’s death without the case having to return to court. The Law Lords declined to rule that Baha Mousa had been within the jurisdiction of the UK from the time of his initial detention at the hotel where he worked. Instead, they found that that he had come within the UK’s jurisdiction only from the time of his detention at the UK military base in Basra. AI noted (see AI Index: EUR 45/008/2007) that, by so ruling, the Law Lords would deny a remedy in the UK courts under the HRA to anyone tortured by UK agents abroad, as well as to the families of those unlawfully killed by UK agents abroad, in cases where the ill-treatment or the death had occurred anywhere other than at a UK facility. Further allegations killings in Iraq of unlawful In May, AI wrote to the UK Defence Secretary expressing concern about the case of Ali Salam ‘Abdul Hassan al-Rukabi, an Iraqi student aged 18 who had been shot dead in a Basra district, reportedly by UK troops. According to information received by AI, on 10 April 2007 Ali Salam ‘Abdul Hassan al-Rukabi was visiting his uncle’s house in Hay al-Muhandissin (Engineers' district) in al-Qibla, west of Basra. According to witnesses, as he stepped outside the house, he was shot, apparently by a UK soldier from a tank positioned in the same street. A neighbour who heard the shot came out of his house and rushed Ali Salam ‘Abdul Hassan alRukabi to Basra’s General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. He had sustained a fatal shot to the forehead above his left eye. His family said that Ali Salam ‘Abdul Hassan al-Rukabi was not carrying any kind of weapon at the time when he was shot. AI received a copy of an Iraqi police report that referred to UK troops “opening fire indiscriminately at passers-by,” killing Mahmoud Ahmad Wahib, a policeman, and AI Index: EUR 01/010/2007