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UK judges disagree with European court on whole-life jail terms

The family of Lee Rigby leave the Old Bailey in central London, December 19, 2013. REUTERS/Neil Hall

By Estelle Shirbon LONDON (Reuters) - A British court ruled on Tuesday that domestic laws on whole-life prison sentences were compatible with European human rights laws, disagreeing with a European court in a judgment that fed into a fierce debate on Britain's ties with Europe. The ruling by five of the most senior Court of Appeal judges also opened the way for two British Muslim converts who hacked a soldier to death in broad daylight on a London street in May 2013 to be sentenced to whole-life terms. The judge in charge of that case had delayed sentencing Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale, who were convicted on December 19 of Lee Rigby's murder, because he wanted to wait for the Court of Appeal to clarify the position on whole-life sentences. The European Court of Human Rights had ruled last July that British courts had violated three murderers' rights by jailing them for life with no prospect of release -- a judgment that played into an anti-European mood in Britain. But in Tuesday's ruling, the British court instructed judges to keep imposing whole-life sentences when appropriate. "In our judgment, the law of England and Wales ... does provide to an offender 'hope' or the 'possibility' of release in exceptional circumstances," the court said. The European court's decision in July particularly angered the ruling Conservatives, who adopt a tough line on crime and see the court based in the eastern French city of Strasbourg as a threat to British sovereignty. "The UK courts have definitively rejected the ludicrous ruling from Strasbourg demanding the most dangerous criminals are given the chance to be freed," said Dominic Raab, a Conservative legislator, in a statement after Tuesday's ruling. "HUMAN RIGHTS MISSION CREEP" "It is a victory for common sense and democracy and shows the government is right to fight the human rights mission creep tooth and nail," said Raab, who is one of the most vocal critics of the Strasbourg court. A spokeswoman for the European court declined to comment. There are about 50 people serving whole-life sentences in Britain. Judges can only impose such sentences in exceptionally serious crimes such as child murders involving sadistic or sexual motives, or multiple murders with premeditation. Last July's decision was the latest in a series of judgments by the Strasbourg court that dismayed many in Britain. Others have ranged from support for prisoners' voting rights, which Conservatives strongly oppose, to a decision that delayed the deportation to Jordan of radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada for years. Although the Strasbourg court is not an institution of the European Union, it has become wrapped in a wider debate about how much power EU bodies should have over British affairs. Most Conservatives are hostile to the EU, and Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged that if the party wins the next election in 2015, a referendum will be held in 2017 on whether Britain should stay in the bloc or leave. Home Secretary Theresa May, the interior minister, has suggested that the Conservatives could pledge that if they win the 2015 election, Britain will pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights which the Strasbourg court enforces. (Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)