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UN report targets British anti-terrorism legislation

Britain has come under fire in a UN report that raises concerns over counterterrorism laws, legislation that limits free speech and the use of the Indian Ocean territory of Diego Garcia in the extraordinary rendition of terror suspects.

The UN Human Rights Committee report also singled out Britain’s Official Secrets Act — legislation enacted during the Cold War to safeguard national security information — as a means of silencing whistle-blowers and keeping information out of the public domain. The act was used last year to convict a British civil servant of leaking a classified memo about a meeting between US President George W. Bush and former British prime minister Tony Blair over Iraq.

Since the suicide bombings that killed 52 rush-hour commuters in 2005, Britain has pushed through a raft of counterterrorism measures. The human rights committee issues its reports every three years after countries offer their own assessments.

“The UK has a proud record in human rights,” the British Home Office said in a statement. “We see the country reviews ... as a process based on collaboration and co-operation, and above all, a commitment to improving human rights on the ground.”

Britain has been in the spotlight over measures that rights groups say go beyond what is needed to protect against terrorism. Already one of the leading countries in surveillance, it also has some of the most impenetrable secrecy laws.

“The committee remains concerned that powers under the Official Secrets Act 1989 have been exercised to frustrate former employees of the crown from bringing into the public domain issues of genuine public interest, and can be exercised to prevent the media from publishing such matters,” the UN report said.

The committee also urged a full probe into alleged rights abuses at Diego Garcia, the British territory leased by the US military, where at least two terror suspects were taken on extraordinary rendition flights.

There have been allegations that suspects were also interrogated there.
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