Human Rights: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) by Clapham Andrew

Author:Clapham, Andrew [Clapham, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2007-06-27T16:00:00+00:00

The rule that prohibits the use of evidence gleaned from torture has been at the centre of concern about detention of suspected terrorists in the recent context of the ‘war on terror’. As mentioned above, no one really expects to use evidence extracted through torture to convict those accused of terrorism or kidnapping.

The issue that has arisen is whether such information obtained through torture can be used, not for conviction, but for the continuing detention of terrorist suspects in the ‘war on terror’. A couple of recent decisions have confirmed the prohibition on the use of any evidence obtained using torture. At the end of 2005, the UK House of Lords delivered a landmark judgment holding that evidence resulting from torture could not be used in proceedings reviewing the legality of the detention of suspected terrorists.

A few months later, in 2006, the United States acknowledged, through Military Commissions Instruction No. 10, that it had international human rights obligations under the Torture Convention of 1984, and stated that the Military Commissions may not admit any evidence against an accused established to have been made as a result of torture.

There remain differences of opinion about firstly, whether in cases of doubt as to whether the evidence was obtained using torture, the evidence should be allowed, and, secondly, what should be the burden of proof that should be applied establishing whether particular information was in fact the product of torture. Furthermore, it was conceded in the House of Lords that, even if the judiciary must exclude as evidence information obtained using torture, the executive should be able to rely on this information, as it could be essential to the protection of public safety (see Box 19). Peter King, the Chairman of the US Homeland Security

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