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Britain gives approval to torture, claims Amnesty
By Ben Russell and Colin Brown
11/26/05 "The
Independent" -- -- Tony Blair has been accused of
undermining decades of British campaigning for international human
rights by using the war on terror to give a "green light" to
torture. Amnesty International is to launch an unprecedented global
campaign tomorrow against the British Government after ministers
admitted they would use information gained by torture to prevent
attacks on the United Kingdom.
Mike Gapes, the Labour MP and chairman of the Commons Foreign
Affairs Committee, hit out at the Government after Ian Pearson, the
Foreign Office minister responsible for human rights, said evidence
obtained under torture could not be ignored if it might prevent an
attack.
He said: "The fact the Government now seems prepared to use evidence
obtained under torture sends a worrying signal and may mean that
while we say we condemn the use of torture, other countries might
feel they have a green light to use torture to get evidence on
terrorism."
Amnesty is to turn the tactics it used against torture by
dictatorships in the Seventies and Eighties on the Government as it
puts the campaign against British anti-terror laws at the forefront
of the organisation's global fight for human rights. It will call on
its two million members worldwide to join a letter-writing campaign
targeting Mr Blair and build international pressure to oppose plans
to deport suspects to countries that use torture.
Kate Allen, the director of Amnesty UK, said Britain's actions posed
one of the greatest threats to human rights in the West. She
condemned Britain for attempting to secure memorandums of
understanding with other states to allow the deportation of terror
suspects
The Government has signed memorandums with Jordan and Libya and is
negotiating deals with Algeria and other countries to attempt to
ensure that detainees are not mistreated if they are returned.
But campaigners insist the deals are "not worth the paper they are
written on" and undermine the global ban on torture. Meanwhile the
House of Lords is also yet to rule on whether the UK can use
evidence against terror suspects that may have been obtained under
torture abroad.
Amnesty's campaign, to be launched with a rally outside Downing
Street, has huge symbolic resonance for Labour. Ms Allen said: "We
are incredibly angry about the way in which the UK Government is
moving from being a defender of human rights to being a defender of
torturers.
"We want to open people's eyes to what is being done in their name.
Whilst we used to be sending diplomats around the world stopping
torture we are flying them around the world to sign agreements with
countries that use torture.
"This is deeply shocking. What is happening in the UK is of such
magnitude that is has created anger in Amnesty as a worldwide
movement. The UK has been at the forefront of establishing
international law and helping human rights. It is in danger of
simply throwing that away and I don't think backbenchers and the
public realise that."
Mr Pearson had suggested on Thursday during a meeting of the Commons
Foreign Affairs Committee that the Government might use evidence
obtained under torture. He said: "When we get to the situation where
there is evidence that might prevent a future atrocity and we have
suspicions that evidence might be obtained from torture, well I
think we have to use that evidence. I don't think you can completely
ignore what might turn out to be vital evidence that will save the
lives of UK citizens."
A day earlier, Mr Blair had told MPs: "We do not agree with the use
of torture." Pressed over whether that was an absolute rule, Mr
Blair added: "I mean absolute in this sense, that you say 'Look, it
is simply the civil liberties of the suspect, or simply the
liberties of freedom from terrorism'. You have to balance those two
things."
He went on: "Of course there are absolute rules that we have about
torture, or about the death penalty for example ... I do not accept
that the anti-terrorist measures that we have been introducing
transgress that."
© 2005 Independent News and Media Limited
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