UN asks Britain not to proxy-torture

A United Nations human rights expert today called on Britain not to deport anybody under its new anti-terrorism law to a country where there is a risk of torture or ill-treatment, warning that the proposed assurances it would seek were not an adequate guarantee and circumvented its treaty obligations

"The fact that such assurances are sought shows in itself that the sending country perceives a serious risk of the deportee being subjected to torture or ill treatment upon arrival in the receiving country," the UN Commission on Human Rights's special rapporteur on questions relevant to torture, Manfred Nowak, declared in a statement.