Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that Britain, France and Germany use foreign intelligence obtained through torture in the fight against terrorism.
The torture by three heavyweight European powers of information from secret services in countries are damaging the reputation of the entire European Union, said the HRW group.
Judith Sunderland, Western Europe researcher for HRW said that Berlin, Paris and London should be working to eradicate torture, not relying on foreign torture intelligence”.
The report, “No Questions Asked: Intelligence Cooperation with Countries that Torture,” found: “The actual practices of these leading EU states contradict the EU’s anti-torture guidelines, which make eradicating torture and ill-treatment a priority in its relations with other countries.”
The use of such intelligence obtained under questionable circumstances “damages the credibility of the European Union”, added HRW.
Intelligence services in the three countries lack detailed instructions on how to assess and respond to information from countries that torture, said the rights group.
Torture-tainted information has been used in criminal proceedings in France and Germany, despite domestic and international rules banning the use of such evidence in proceedings, said HRW.
“France, Germany, and the UK can engage in necessary intelligence cooperation without undermining the global torture ban,” said the rights group.
“To do so, they must make genuine inquiries of countries that provide information to determine whether torture was used to obtain it.”.
Source: Agence France-Presse
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