British Judiciary Chief Assails Guantanamo
Posted Sep 14, 2006 - 02:32 AM
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The head of Britain's judiciary said Wednesday the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay is an affront to democracy, going far beyond Prime Minister Tony Blair's muted criticism of the detention facility for terror suspects.
"I speak with the authority of the government," Lord Falconer told British Broadcasting Corp. radio, emphasizing that he had Blair's backing for the comments delivered Wednesday at the Supreme Court of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.
In June, Falconer had denounced the detention center in eastern Cuba as a "recruiting agent" for terrorism, and described its existence as "intolerable and wrong."
In a prepared speech Wednesday, Falconer said that Guantanamo violated a fundamental legal principle that courts be able to review the conduct of the executive. A transcript of the speech was released in advance by his office.
"Otherwise the conduct of the executive is not defined and restrained by law," Falconer said in the prepared speech. "It is because of that principle, that the USA, deliberately seeking to put the detainees beyond the reach of the law in Guantanamo Bay, is so shocking an affront to the principles of democracy.
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