Executives' Democratic Principles

“Many governments torture clandestinely, but the Bush administration today is the only government known to claim the power to abuse detainees as a matter of official policy. …the United Nations Convention against Torture, which both Britain and the US have ratified, unconditionally prohibits sending anyone to another country ‘where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture’.” “All the governments in question have ratified the torture convention - a major multilateral treaty - yet routinely flout it.” “A round-the-clock watch might deny torturers an opportunity to ply their trade, but Britain, like the US, contemplates only periodic monitoring.” “As the US has found, law enforcement officials can avoid exposing the intelligence service’s listening devices by, after appropriate judicial authorisation, simply installing their own.”

• Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch.

Kenneth Roth. “Terror suspects should be prosecuted not tortured,” Financial Times, 11/22/05.