Britain's detention without trial of foreign terror suspects subjected some of them to "inhuman and degrading treatment," the European watchdog on torture said in a hard-hitting report released on Thursday.
The Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT), which visited the detainees in February 2002 and March last year, said detention without trial caused mental disorders in most of the detainees.
The conditions under which some detainees were held "could be considered as amounting to inhuman and degrading treatment," the report said.
Foreigners in Britain suspected of involvement in international terrorism were held at Belmarsh prison in London and Woodhill prison in Buckinghamshire, north west of London, and Broadmoor high-security hospital, west of the British capital in Berkshire, under legislation passed in 2001.
Last March they were freed from custody and put under control orders restricting their liberty after the law lords ruled that their detention breached human rights laws.
Failings
The CPT report is the second within two days from institutions of the Council of Europe to condemn Britain for human-rights failings.
Its findings are even more strongly worded than a scathing report on Wednesday from the European commissioner for human rights, Alvaro Gil-Robles, which criticized the UK's human rights record on terrorism, asylum and anti-social behavior and said that control orders which impose conditions of house arrest on terror suspects "flout the right to the presumption of innocence."
The government received the CPT report in July last year, but waited nearly a year -- until after the law lords (the most senior judges in the UK) had heard the detainees' challenge to the lawfulness of their detention, new legislation was pushed through parliament and last month's general election -- before agreeing to its publication.
Britain was forced to amend the law after the law lords ruled last December that the powers of indefinite detention without trial for foreign terror suspects but not UK nationals breached the European convention on human rights.
The "Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005" was passed after a bitter parliamentary battle, and last March the detainees were put under control orders which allow them to live at home, subject to stringent restrictions on their freedom.
Gareth Peirce, a solicitor for several terror suspects, and Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights organization Liberty, said the government's delay in publishing the CPT report had deprived the law lords and parliamentarians of important information which could have affected their decisions.
"From the time of the House of Lords judgment, they kept all the detainees in custody, knowing it had been condemned as inhuman and degrading treatment, until the last-ditch stand in March, and deprived parliamentarians of the information when they were debating the legislation," Peirce said.
`Cruelty'
Shakrabarti said: "Why have we not seen this before now? Parliament should have seen this when they were debating the control order legislation, because it highlights the cruelty of punishment without trial, which is just as relevant for control orders."
"The government had this report in July 2004. Why didn't it show this to the law lords last autumn, and why didn't it show this to parliament when it was debating the control order legislation?" she added.
The CPT said that the trauma of detention in Belmarsh and Woodhill prisons and Broadmoor high-security hospital was made worse by its indefinite nature, the difficulty for detainees in challenging their detention and their ignorance of the evidence which was being used to certify them as terrorist suspects.
"For those who had been subjected to traumatic experiences or even torture in the past, it had clearly reawakened the experience and even led to the serious recurrence of former disorders," the report said.
Amnesty International's UK director, Kate Allen, said: "Once again, the UK's anti-terror measures are condemned by a leading international human rights body."
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia