Secret courts could suppress evidence of UK role in torture, says UN official

The new generation of secret courts proposed by the government could suppress evidence of British collusion in torture, according to the chief UN official responsible for investigating wrongdoing by security and intelligence agencies.

Concern about the government's plan – contained in the justice and security bill – was expressed by Prof Juan Méndez, the UN's special rapporteur on torture. "If a country is in possession of information about human rights abuses, but isn't in a position to mention them, it hampers the ability to deal effectively with torture," he said. Méndez, himself a victim of torture in his native Argentina in the 1970s, was speaking at the thinktank Chatham House on Monday night.

After attacking the US for what he called the "extensive use of state secrets" to suppress evidence of torture and other abuses, Méndez referred to the so-called control principle, which allows governments to determine how its intelligence can be used once shared with another state.

Ministers maintain that the new secret courts are needed to protect its intelligence-sharing relationship with the US and other governments, while critics say they are intended to conceal evidence of crimes committed by the British government, including involvement in the rendition and torture of British citizens suspected of being terrorists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/sep/11/un-official-secret-courts-torture