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The Report of the Iraq Inquiry
who thought that “they should”. Mr Johnson also raised concerns about creating a
precedent for similar processes in other countries.
296.  An FCO official who attended the meeting reported that the US appeared to have
two concerns:
the material that they might be required to provide; and
the risk that attendance at inquests by US Service Personnel might expose
those individuals to civil action in the UK.188
297.  In the following weeks, DCA and FCO officials provided advice to the US
Embassy on the inquest process189 and the extent of extra‑territorial jurisdiction under
English law.190
298.  The FCO’s advice on extra‑territorial jurisdiction was that:
English criminal law was essentially territorial. There was no jurisdiction in
English law to prosecute a foreign national for homicide committed overseas.
If there was no extra‑territorial jurisdiction, there was no question of any charges
being issued against US Service Personnel.
There were a group of “international” offences for which the UK had taken
universal jurisdiction, including most relevantly “grave breaches” of the Geneva
Conventions committed anywhere by persons of any nationality. It was, however,
“hard to imagine circumstances in which a ‘friendly fire’ incident would amount
to a grave breach” of the Convention.
299.  Ms Harman met Mr Johnson again on 6 December.191 Ms Harman suggested that
the meeting should focus on the inquest into the death of L Cpl Hull.
300.  Ms Harman said that she had spoken to Mr Walker, the coroner responsible for
that inquest. He would like US witnesses to the incident to attend the inquest; however,
he could accept “as a minimum”:
an unredacted copy of the US report on the incident: the US and UK reports
differed, and the US report had “large sections, even whole pages” redacted;
and
a US representative to speak to and explain the contents of the report.
301.  An MOD official added that “in a reverse situation the UK would consider what
we could offer in terms of best evidence”.
188  Email FCO [junior official] to MOD [junior official], 20 November 2006, ‘Iraq Coroners Inquests’.
189  Email DCA [junior official] to US Embassy [junior official], 30 November 2006, ‘Questions from the
US Embassy about Inquests’.
190  Email Adams to US Embassy [junior official], 1 December 2006, ‘Questions from US Embassy
about inquests’.
191  Minute Burden to Harman, 11 December 2006, ‘Update Meeting between Harriet Harman and
David Johnson on US Attendance at UK Inquests into Deaths in Iraq’.
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