Blair could face Trial for War Crimes

Tony Blair could face prosecution for war crimes in Iraq following a legal bid launched on June 11.

Former SNP MP Jim Sillars has handed a 10,000-word dossier to Lord Advocate Eilish Angiolini urging her to charge the PM under Scots law.

He claims Blair should be held to account for conspiring to overthrow Saddam Hussein's regime and for starting the war in Iraq.

Both are illegal under international law. An attempt to have Blair hauled before a criminal court in England failed after lawyers said it wasn't the place to deal with international law.

But Sillars claims Scottish courts have the power to try Blair for war crimes if they believe an established offence, such as murder, has been committed in the process.

Sillars said: "There can be no prosecution at the international criminal court because it doesn't have jurisdiction."

"There is no chance of a special court being established by the United Nations because Britain and the United States have the veto at the Security Council. There is no chance of a prosecution in England and Wales."

"But of course Scots law is an entirely different entity, an entirely different jurisdiction with different rules, procedures and instruments available to it."

Sillars said he had been told by legal experts that the Prime Minister has a case to answer.

And he warned: "The Lord Advocate would have to give a very good explanation why, with the evidence presented, she didn't instigate an investigation -- because we have jurisdiction."