Britain Bars Use of Evidence Obtained Through Torture

Evidence obtained through torture in other countries cannot be used in Britain, the nation’s highest court ruled Thursday, reversing a ruling last year by the Court of Appeal.

The decision came in a case involving eight terrorism suspects who assert that they were tortured in U.S. camps. A legal panel must now evaluate whether the evidence used against the men may have been obtained through torture.

The British government said that it did not use evidence suspected of being obtained through torture and that the ruling would have no effect on its anti-terrorism efforts.

They were detained indefinitely without charge under a 2001 anti-terrorism law that the Law Lords, Britain’s highest judicial authority, later struck down. Little information about the men is publicly available, but some are believed to be under house arrest or surveillance.

Human rights groups welcomed the decision but criticized the government for fighting the suspects’ claims.

“It is deplorable that the U.K. government had to be taken to court over this,” Amnesty International said. “Over the last 2 1/2 years the authorities have shamefully sought to defend the indefensible.”

Last year, the Court of Appeal said evidence suspected of being elicited through torture could be used in British courts if it were obtained by agents of another state and no British agents were involved.

Lord Thomas Bingham, ruling for the Law Lords, said English law had abhorred torture “and its fruits” for more than 500 years. He said last year’s ruling endangered that record.

Human rights advocates say evidence obtained through torture is notoriously unreliable, because torture victims might say anything to stop their suffering.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke said the government did not condone torture in any way, “nor would we carry out this completely unacceptable behavior or encourage others to do so.”

“We accept this judgment, which will have no bearing on the government’s efforts to combat terrorism,” Clarke added.