The Federal Government says that while torture is inappropriate, it has no intention of fighting plans by the United States Government to use evidence gained through torture in the trial of Guantanamo Bay detainees. A court in Washington has been told that military panels at the prison in Cuba can use evidence obtained through torture. Australia's Attorney-General Philip Ruddock says that while such evidence is not an accepted part of civilian trials, it is an approach used in military trials. He says it is also used in international criminal tribunals that the United Nations has established. "Military commissions, if allegations are raised that evidence was obtained inappropriately, its probative value, that is the weight you can put on it, is tested in the process," he said. "We've always known that that was the approach in the military trial arrangements."
Lawyers acting for Australian detainees in Cuba had earlier today called for the Government to renounce the practice. Two Australians, Mamdouh Habib and David Hicks, are being held at Guantanamo Bay. The lawyer for Hicks, Stephen Kenny, says the US Government's plan to use evidence resulting from torture will hamper any chance of a fair trial. He says any abuse of human rights by the US Government is unacceptable. "If you want to try people, give them the proper protection, give them the same rights you give your own citizens and put them before a proper court and give them a chance to defend themselves," he said. "Don't take them to a place where you're trying to hide them beyond the rule of law, which is what they did in Guantanamo Bay."
Mr Kenny says Saddam Hussein's regime was criticised for human rights abuses against defectors and the US Government should not be using the same tactics in the trial of Guantanamo Bay detainees. "For the Americans to start saying they'll do this, essentially what they are doing is behaving as a third world dictatorship and frankly that is a very great concern," he said. Mr Kenny has again called on the Australian Government to bring Hicks home and allow him to defend himself against allegations of war crimes before an Australian court. |