Original author: Press Release
Source: Human Rights Watch
URL: [link]
Date: March 16, 2006

(London, March 8, 2006) – The United Kingdom cannot deport security suspects at risk of torture to Algeria without violating international law, Human Rights Watch said today. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said after official talks in Algiers on February 16 that “good progress” had been made on a deportation agreement and that both countries wanted to sign “as soon as possible,” according to Reuters news agency.

The proposed agreement reportedly resembles the memoranda of understanding (MOUs) that the U.K. has already reached with Jordan, Lebanon, and Libya. Under these memoranda, the receiving governments provide “diplomatic assurances” that they will not mistreat persons that the other country transfers to their territory.

“These MOUs will not prevent torture,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “On the contrary, they are tacit admissions that torture is practiced and that these individuals are at risk.”

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