High-profile human rights solicitor Phil Shiner will this week represent the families of six Iraqi civilians allegedly shot by British troops, in judicial review proceedings in the UK.

The hearing will establish whether the Human Rights Act 1998 may apply in south-east Iraq, on the basis that the UK exercised effective control of the territory during its occupation.


The families in the test cases maintain that their relatives were shot by troops while in peaceful situations.


Mr Shiner said his clients had not been told of any investigations into the deaths of their relatives.


A Ministry of Defence spokesman said the ministry had every confidence in the existing legal framework in which the British armed forces are operating.