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UK detention policy in Afghanistan ruled 'unlawful'

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, June 25, IRNA -- Britain’s policy of transferring prisoners detained by its forces in Afghanistan to the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) was ruled Friday to be “unlawful.”

The High Court in London ruled it was not lawful to hand over Afghan prisoners to the NDS in Kabul and that it was also unlawful to transfer any to the NDS at Kandahar and Lashkar Gah unless there was regular access to the prisoners.

The ruling was won in a case brought by British peace campaigner Maya Evans, who challenged Britain’s detention policy in Afghanistan based on evidence that Afghan prisoners faced a real risk of torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the NDS.

“These fundamental changes to the UK’s policy in Afghanistan mean no less than the saving of Afghan lives and the end of transferring them to face torture or worse,” Maya said following her court victory.

“If the practice of transfer to torture re-emerges in the future the court will now know about it and will be able to stop it”, she said in a statement obtained by IRNA.

The case heard evidence of allegations of 66 instances of torture in Kabul, including the amputation of limbs; electric shocks; deprivation of sleep, water and food; beatings by rod and cable; scorching; abusive language, and the death of at least one detainee.

Prosecuting solicitor, Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers, said the government’s case has been exposed as “an attempted cover-up of the truth that we were transferring Afghans knowing full well the NDS would likely torture them.”

“The UK says it respects democratic principles and the rule of law but this case shows that we don’t always do so and it is vitally important that the government can be held to account if it does not,” said Shiner, who has led many other successful cases about British troops’ abuse in Iraq.

But he expressed concern about the government changing its rules on its legal aid system so that no similar case can be brought in future “following political pressure” from the Ministry of Defence.

Evans, who is noted for being the first person in the UK to be convicted under new laws in 2005 for taking part in an unauthorised demonstration outside parliament, said that she intends to start a fresh case to challenge the government’s changes on legal aid.