Sensible Britons
December 8, 2005
I heard about the decision of the United Kingdom's House of Lords earlier today, but only realized the importance of this decision as I was driving home listening to NPR. As the basis of most common law around the world, the 'modern' world has adopted what has been learned from the UK legal system over the years. The fact that this decision prevents any court in the United Kingdom from allowing to use as evidence any information obtained using torture anywhere in the world, and that the use of this type of evidence is unacceptable in the British judicial system. Bravo Britain!
BBC News is reporting a lot about this decision, and one of the articles mentioned that,
Amnesty International said the “momentous” ruling overturned the “tacit belief that torture can be condoned under certain circumstances.”
…
Another member of the panel, Lord Carswell, said allowing evidence from torture to be used would “involve the state in moral defilement.”
And this quote from Reuters News Service:
“Torture is an unqualified evil. It can never be justified. Rather it must always be punished,” said Lord Brown, one of seven Law Lords asked to rule on the issue.
