British lawyer Phil Shiner outside the high court in London on Tuesday. (Reuters)

London, Dec. 14 (Reuters): In a test case over British troops? alleged abuse of Iraqi civilians, a London court today backed demands for an independent inquiry into claims that a Basra hotel worker was beaten to death by UK soldiers.

The high court ruling in favour of Iraqi relatives of Baha Mousa ? who died during detention in UK-controlled Basra ? was hailed by rights activists as a victory in their campaign for accountability of troops involved in the US-led occupation.

?Today is a historic day for human rights,? said Phil Shiner, lawyer for Mousa?s family.

?All the cases of torture by UK soldiers during the occupation of Iraq ? including the most terrible of all where Baha Mousa was tortured to death ? must now be investigated.?

Abuse allegations against occupying soldiers hit world headlines earlier this year with graphic images of US soldiers? mistreatment of prisoners at Baghdad?s Abu Ghraib jail.

The American cases have been more numerous, but the behaviour of some British troops has been sufficiently worrying to draw protests from the Red Cross and Amnesty International.

Mousa, 26, was held during a September 2003 raid on a hotel. His blood-caked corpse was returned to his family days later.

?He had been beaten so severely I could not bear to look at him,? his father Daoud Mousa said in Britain at the start of the high court case.

?I am not against British troops in Iraq and I am glad that Saddam Hussein has gone, but all my family demands is justice for the horrific death of my son.?

Nervous of a flood of cases against troops, Prime Minister Tony Blair?s government said it may appeal today?s ruling.

Despite approving Mousa?s case, the court threw out similar appeals by Iraqi relatives of another five locals who died in shooting incidents round the southern Basra area.

It said the European Convention on Human Rights was valid in British territorial outposts such as prisons, even when they were on another state?s territory.

That covered Mousa?s case, but not the other five who died in street incidents beyond British bases.

Their families say they were shot dead by soldiers while going about their daily lives ? at home, attending a funeral, driving home from work, visiting a judge and eating dinner.

Judge Bernard Rix said the government?s view that the European charter did not extend to Iraq was an ?unhappy submission ... about a country which was one of the cradles of civilisation.?

The Ministry of Defence welcomed the ruling on the five, saying rules for peacetime Europe could not apply to Iraq.

?This decision is important for current and future operations since in Iraq, where UK armed forces are regularly fired upon and regularly return fire in self defence, it is not possible for us to adopt procedures such as the immediate establishment of a police cordon to enable the painstaking collection of forensic evidence,? it added.

On Mousa, the MOD said it was requesting permission to appeal, and the case was subject to an internal probe by the Army Prosecution Authority:?This case is one of three incidences of deaths in detention in Iraq... For legal reasons it is not possible to comment further.?

During the High Court hearing, a colleague of Mousa told of laughing soldiers abusing detainees by beating, pouring freezing water and practising?kick-boxing? on them, and punishing them if they failed to name European footballers.

Kifah Taha al-Mutari, arrested at the same time as Mousa, also told the court he heard Mousa die.

?I could hear him moaning through the walls... I heard him say 'I am dying ... blood ... blood.' I heard nothing further.?