HRW: bestrijding terrorisme in drie EU-landen gebeurt op een niet legitieme wijze (en)
Three EU countries i - France, Germany and the United Kingdom - acquire foreign intelligence for security and police matters from countries that routinely use torture to obtain information, a report issued on Monday (28 June) by Human Rights Watch says.
The use of torture intelligence in the fight against terrorism by France, Germany, and the UK damages the credibility of the European Union, as they contradict EU's anti-torture guidelines, the watchdog's report reads.
Intelligence services in all three countries claim it is impossible to know the sources and methods used to acquire shared information in states such as Algeria, Syria, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan and Pakistan. But officials in the UK and Germany have made public statements indicating that they believe it is sometimes acceptable to use foreign intelligence even if it is obtained under torture, the report notes.
The 62-page long document cites the case of Djamel Beghal, whose statements made under ill-treatment in the United Arab Emirates were used against him in a French court, where he was on trial for plotting a terrorist attack.
In another example, the alleged confession of a man known as Abu Attiya under ill-treatment in Jordan was used against terrorism suspects on trial in France.
German courts have allowed as evidence the summaries of interrogations of three high-profile terrorism suspects held incommunicado in US detention, as well as evidence collected as result of statements made by Aleem Nasir, a Pakistan-born German citizen suspected of ties to militant Islamist groups, while in the custody of the Pakistani intelligence services.
Human Rights Watch says that in real terms, torture material can end up being used in court because the burden falls on defendants to prove it was obtained under torture, a nearly impossible task.
"The rules meant to exclude torture from the courts don't work," Judith Sunderland, a researcher with the organisation said. "It should be up to prosecutors to prove that evidence originating in countries that torture wasn't obtained through abuse."
Under international law, states must never torture or be complicit in torture, and they must work toward the prevention and eradication of torture worldwide. Cross-border intelligence co-operation is not supposed to enjoy any exception to these obligations.
Press Release