Strasbourg court rejects UK claims on deportation to torture risk

4.21.43pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 28th Feb 2008

In a highly significant judgement today in the case of Saadi, a Tunisian man that Italy wanted to deport, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights has unanimously rejected the claims of the Italian and British governments that persons can be deported to countries which have a record of torture on the basis of 'diplomatic assurances' that they will not be harmed.

The court described as 'misconceived' the UK government's argument that the risk to the individual could be balanced against the risk he posed and instead upheld the absolute nature of the prohibition against sending persons suspected of involvement in terrorism to countries where they face a real risk of torture.

Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP was vice-chair of the European Parliament enquiry into kidnap, torture flights and secret prisons (extraordinary rendition) that concluded many EU governments had been complicit in such illegality.

She commented:

"I hope this will finally put an end to a shameful campaign by the British government to subvert the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention against Torture and other international human rights instruments, and to try and lead EU governments down the same path. The idea that countries that routinely torture people can be trusted not to on the basis of a promise to David Miliband is absurd."

"As with the House of Lords 2 years ago which blocked their attempt to use evidence obtained through torture in trials, the Strasbourg court has thankfully thwarted this slide away from the post-war human rights settlement born of painful experience of fascism."

"The tide across the Atlantic is turning as the Bush era comes to an end and, as we saw last week with the admission of rendition flights through Diego Garcia, Washington is cleaning house. Brown, Straw and Miliband risk being stranded on the wrong side of the divide between law and lawlessness unless they clean up their own act."