A British judge on Thursday delivered a stinging attack on the US, saying its idea of what constituted torture was out of step with that of "most civilised nations".
The criticism, directed at the Bush administration's approach to human rights, was made by Justice Collins during a hearing in the High Court in London over the refusal by British ministers to request the release of three British residents held at Guantanamo Bay.
The judge said: "America's idea of what is torture is not the same as ours and does not appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations".
He made his comments, he said, after learning of the UN report that said Guantanamo should be shut down without delay because torture was still being carried out there.
The Bush administration has defined torture in narrow terms, referring to intense physical injury and organ failure.
Controversy about the definition goes to the heart of allegations that the US has secretly used Britain to transport detainees to interrogation centers in countries where torture is practised, in the practice known as "extraordinary rendition".
UK government ministers have relied on US assurances which senior British lawyers have repeatedly questioned.
In a judgment handed down by the UK's most senior judges, the Law Lords, last year, Lord Bingham referred to US techniques, including sensory deprivation and inducing a perception of suffocation, which, he said, would be defined as torture in British law.
Justice Collins said that three British residents in Guantanamo could now seek a court order requiring UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, to petition for their release.
The case, brought by Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil el-Banna, and Omar Deghayes, and members of their families living in Britain, could be heard as early as next week.
Responding to the judge's remarks about the US definition of torture, Rabinder Singh QC, counsel for the three detainees and their families, said Britain and the European court of human rights would "undoubtedly condemn" many of the practices at Guantanamo.
Al-Rawi is an Iraqi who has lived in the UK since 1985. His business partner, el-Banna, is a Jordanian refugee, and Omar Deghayes is Libyan refugee.
The judge made clear that in his ruling he had taken into account the principle of respect for family life enshrined in the European human rights convention.
There are eight British residents in Guantanamo.
MINERAL DEPOSITS: The Pacific nation is looking for new foreign partners after its agreement with Canada’s Metals Co was terminated ‘mutually’ at the end of last year Pacific nation Kiribati says it is exploring a deep-sea mining partnership with China, dangling access to a vast patch of Pacific Ocean harboring coveted metals and minerals. Beijing has been ramping up efforts to court Pacific nations sitting on lucrative seafloor deposits of cobalt, nickel and copper — recently inking a cooperation deal with Cook Islands. Kiribati opened discussions with Chinese Ambassador Zhou Limin (周立民) after a longstanding agreement with leading deep-sea mining outfit The Metals Co fell through. “The talk provides an exciting opportunity to explore potential collaboration for the sustainable exploration of the deep-ocean resources in Kiribati,” the government said
The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. “The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said. He is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said. Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993. Bar, meant to
Indonesia’s parliament yesterday amended a law to allow members of the military to hold more government roles, despite criticisms that it would expand the armed forces’ role in civilian affairs. The revision to the armed forces law, pushed mainly by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s coalition, was aimed at expanding the military’s role beyond defense in a country long influenced by its armed forces. The amendment has sparked fears of a return to the era of former Indonesian president Suharto, who ex-general Prabowo once served and who used military figures to crack down on dissent. “Now it’s the time for us to ask the
The central Dutch city of Utrecht has installed a “fish doorbell” on a river lock that lets viewers of an online livestream alert authorities to fish being held up as they make their springtime migration to shallow spawning grounds. The idea is simple: An underwater camera at Utrecht’s Weerdsluis lock sends live footage to a Web site. When somebody watching the site sees a fish, they can click a button that sends a screenshot to organizers. When they see enough fish, they alert a water worker who opens the lock to let the fish swim through. Now in its fifth year, the
RSS