Lords to rule on validity of torture evidence

Torture in another country (Iraq)Quite how this story isn't the top UK headline today escapes me. The Law Lords, Britain's top legal minds, meet today to begin the process of deciding whether it ought to be legal to use evidence in British courts that has been obtained by torture in foreign countries. The case has moved to the Lords after ten men appealed against their incarceration in Belmarsh prison - without charge - based on secret evidence obtained under torture at Guantanamo Bay.

The implication is obvious: while it is quite rightly unacceptable to allow anyone to undergo torture in this country (though I have heard that it does still go on), and while legally, we must abhor torture taking place in any country which is a signatory of the UN Human Rights Conventions, if someone we suspect of terrorism lets something slip while they are being tortured (in a dark and distant land), and if we happen to hear of this, and if then we happen to get hold of the torture victim, it's suddenly OK to profit from torture, in the sense that we achieve our ends.

I suppose that the Law Lords will discuss whether this could be legal under British, European and international law, but I get the impression that when they investigate this, they will really be looking to aid the government by finding a loophole which allows for British courts to accept such evidence.

The verdict is not expected for some time, but this issue is really central to the current 'war on terror'. If our top judges rule that evidence obtained under torture is admissible then they are ruling that torture is an acceptable form of interrogation, as long as it happens elsewhere. This would set an awful precedent and would leave the development of a genuine universal agreement on human rights in tatters. And it would confirm what some have been saying all along: our governments do not care about people or human rights in any way.

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October 17, 2005 | Filed Under 'Terror', Politics 

Comments

One Response to “Lords to rule on validity of torture evidence”

  1. Nick on October 18th, 2005 8:36 pm

    Good point. You'd almost think the mainstream media are trying to marginalise the public from any type of democratic participation.

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