At a time when international institutions are coming under increasing pressure and attack, the work of the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, Dr Alice Jill Edwards, proves their worth. Shamefully for the British government, she has now found it necessary to do so in the case of the UK.
As The Independent reveals today, Dr Edwards finds that the treatment of a certain class of prisoners, held under an inherently unjust and anachronistic regime of indefinite detention, probably amounts to “arbitrary detention” by the UK, “psychological torture” and, “very likely”, a breach of their human rights. Some, about 700, have been locked away for more than 10 years after their initial sentence was completed.
