Magpie

Friday, December 9, 2005

Supremes ban all evidence gained by torture.

Unfortunately for us here in the US, it wasn't our Supremes that made the decision. Instead, it was the UK's law lords — effectively that country's supreme court — who told Tony Blair's government that any evidence obtained through the use of torture is inadmissible in British courts. In making their ruling, the law lords demanded that the UK's secret anti-terror courts re-examine the cases of eight terrorist currently being detained to ensure that none of the evidence supporting those detentions was gained via torture.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, the former Lord Chief Justice, who headed the panel of law lords, said the English law had regarded "torture and its fruits" with abhorrence for more than 500 years.

He said he was "startled, even a little dismayed" that "this deeply rooted tradition and an international obligation solemnly and explicitly undertaken" could be overriden by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC), which oversees the detention of terror suspects.

Lord Hoffmann, a fellow law lord, said the use of torture corrupted and degraded the state that used it and the legal system that accepted it. In a reference to Guantanamo Bay, he said that many Americans have felt their country "dishonoured" by its use of torture outside its own jurisdiction and the practice of moving suspects to countries where torture is practised.

It would be nice to hear such principled language from US jurists, wouldn't it?

Meanwhile, in Europe, US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice continued to vacillate on the issue of whether the US uses torture in the 'war on terrorism,' responding to European concerns about secret US prisons and 'renditions' of terror suspects by making statements that were so riddled with exceptions that you could march Saddam's entire Mukhabarat through them.

Via UK Independent, AP, and LA Times.

| | Posted by Magpie at 3:08 AM | Get permalink

And in more news from Dubya's 'war on terrorism' ...

The top legal advisor to the State Department has admitted that the US has not let the International Red Cross visit all of the terror suspects in its custody — despite earlier, frequent government statements to the contrary.

[John Bellinger] stated that the group International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) had access to "absolutely everybody" at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which holds suspects detained during the US war on terror.

When asked by journalists if the organisation had access to everybody held in similar circumstances elsewhere, he said: "No". He declined to explain furthe

Given the evidence that the CIA has been operating secret prisons in several parts of the world, Bellinger's comment — and refusal to explain it — is very troubling.

Via BBC.

| | Posted by Magpie at 3:00 AM | Get permalink

Wednesday, December 7, 2005

This week has been nuts.

Which is why the posting has been so slim. We think we can get back to normal for tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

| | Posted by Magpie at 4:59 PM | Get permalink

Monday, December 5, 2005

No comment.

Some news from New Orleans:

Hours after New Orleans officials announced Tuesday that they would deploy a city-owned, wireless Internet network in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, regional phone giant BellSouth Corp. withdrew an offer to donate one of its damaged buildings that would have housed new police headquarters, city officials said yesterday....

City officials said BellSouth was upset about the plan to bring high-speed Internet access for free to homes and businesses to help stimulate resettlement and relocation to the devastated city. Around the country, large telephone companies have aggressively lobbied against localities launching their own Internet networks, arguing that they amount to taxpayer-funded competition. Some states have laws prohibiting them.

Via Washington Post.

| | Posted by Magpie at 11:45 AM | Get permalink