Flashermac Posted May 17, 2008 Report Share Posted May 17, 2008 A Labour peer has launched a bid to allow victims of torture to sue their perpetrators in British courts. Former solicitor general Lord Archer of Sandwell's Torture (Damages) Bill was being debated in the second chamber on Friday. It seeks to extend to alleged victims the right to prosecute foreign countries through the UK legal system. Nations are currently covered by so-called state immunity, leaving what campaigners say are around 1,000 victims without recourse to justice or compensation. And while the private member's bill stands little chance of becoming law, it has received backing from former lord chief justice Lord Woolf. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that: "The trouble with our law at the present is that not only does it make a blanket protection for foreign states, it also provides blanket protection for a very wide definition of what is state action. "Often torture is committed by fairly junior officials of the country concerned; it does not involve the dignity of the ruler or anything near it. "In my view it is very important that we send a message that this country really is against that sort of conduct." "It may be possible to find a satisfactory compromise between these two conflicting principles of international law." Watch out, GWB and Dick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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