32 HASSAN v. THE UNITED KINGDOM – JUDGMENT an arguable case that the United Kingdom was responsible for ill-treating Tarek Hassan or causing his death, or that Tarek Hassan’s death occurred in territory that was controlled by the United Kingdom. This was not, on the evidence, a case in which the death occurred in the custody of the State. Such deaths might warrant a lower threshold or trigger for the investigative duty, but this was not the case here. Tarek Hassan’s death occurred many months after his release and in circumstances where there was nothing pointing to United Kingdom State involvement in the death. B. The Court’s assessment 62. According to the Court’s case-law, the obligation to protect the right to life under Article 2, read in conjunction with the State’s general duty under Article 1 of the Convention to “secure to everyone within their jurisdiction the rights and freedoms defined in [the] Convention”, requires by implication that there should be some form of effective official investigation when individuals have been killed as a result of the use of force by agents of the State (see Al-Skeini and Others v. the United Kingdom [GC], no. 55721/07, § 163, ECHR 2011). In addition, Article 3 places a duty on the State to carry out an effective official investigation where an individual makes a “credible assertion” that he has suffered ill-treatment in breach of that provision at the hands of State officials, or, in the absence of an express complaint, where there are other sufficiently clear indications that torture or ill-treatment might have occurred (see Labita v. Italy [GC], no. 26772/95, § 131, ECHR 2000 IV and Members (97) of the Gldani Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v. Georgia, no. 71156/01, § 97, 3 May 2007, and the cases cited therein). 63. In the present case, with reference to the facts as assessed above by the Court, there is no evidence to suggest that Tarek Hassan was ill-treated while in detention, such as to give rise to an obligation on the respondent State under Article 3 to carry out an official investigation. Nor is there any evidence that the United Kingdom authorities were responsible in any way, directly or indirectly, for Tarek Hassan’s death, which occurred some four months after he was released from Camp Bucca, in a distant part of the country not controlled by United Kingdom forces. In the absence of any evidence of the involvement of United Kingdom State agents in the death, or even of any evidence that the death occurred within territory controlled by the United Kingdom, no obligation to investigate under Article 2 can arise. 64. In conclusion, the Court considers that the complaints under Articles 2 and 3 of the Convention are manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 § 3 (a) of the Convention and must be declared inadmissible pursuant to Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.

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