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Iraq: Fatal Shootings of Sergeant Steven Roberts and Zaher Zaher

My Lords, I will not comment on the last point; I note what the noble Baroness said. The position on the rules of engagement and international law—whether applied directly as a result of the convention or as a result of its application through customary law—is that in a warlike situation it is open to use any degree of force against combatants. In relation to those who are wearing uniform, that is a straightforward issue to determine. In relation to those who are not in uniform, difficult questions can arise as to whether they are irregular combatants, whether they are civilians who are at that point taking part in hostilities, or whether they are there in a different position. Once they stop taking part in hostilities, they are subject to the rules that apply to civilians. It was clear that the soldiers in this case were entitled to use force in defence of Sergeant Roberts, but that would be subject to the requirement that it should be necessary and reasonable; or at least that they should honestly have believed it to be reasonable. Given that the prosecution has reached a conclusion on the evidence that it would not be possible to prove that they did not believe that honestly, the question of—and there were two views about this—whether on this occasion Mr Zaher was acting as a combatant or had stepped outside his civilian role does not need to be determined.