BRITAIN: Ten non-nationals held without charge under Britain's emergency post-September 11th anti-terrorism laws lost an appeal yesterday against their detention in a ruling their lawyer said legitimised torture.
With language that struck at the heart of the debate over how far governments can roll back human rights in the war on terror, Britain's Appeals Court ruled against the men, some of whom have been held for nearly three years without charge.
Lord Justice John Laws, one of two judges on a three-member panel who voted to dismiss the appeals, said the "sickening massacre of many hundreds of innocent persons in New York City on September 11th, 2001" justified examining evidence that would be banned in criminal court.
The suspects argued some of the secret evidence against them might have been obtained by the US through torture at Guantanamo Bay prison or in Afghanistan. Lawyer Gareth Peirce said the judgment violated treaties against torture.