An injustice

Afundamental principle of the rule of law is fairness. Among other considerations, this means that people who have been subject to due process and no case has been proven against them should be left alone, not continually pursued.

Yet these protections appear to have been cast aside where members of the Armed Forces who served in Iraq are concerned. Major Robert Campbell, a decorated officer, is facing his eighth official investigation regarding the death of an Iraqi in 2003.

He was cleared of manslaughter 12 years ago, but the case was then taken up by human rights lawyers and has since triggered several official inquiries, the latest by the government-financed Iraq Fatality Investigations (IFI).

Unsurprisingly, Major Campbell has had enough and is refusing to co-operate with yet another quasi-judicial investigation into the same incident. Although he has been called as a witness rather than as a suspect, he feels he is being unfairly hounded; and he is right. The IFI team is now threatening to take action in the High Court to compel his presence.

Mr Campbell said he felt it unreasonable of the Ministry of Defence to expect him to answer yet more questions about a matter thrown out by three sets of prosecutors. But it is more than that. It is outrageous. The apparent justification is in order to comply with the UK’S international human rights obligations. But what about Major Campbell’s rights? Interviewed on the BBC yesterday it was put to him that no prosecutions have taken place because there was not enough evidence to sustain one. “Isn’t that how justice works?” he asked. It is certainly supposed to.