A step closer to Redress: new torture bill opens the way for state accountability
Last updated 02/07/2008 20:10:00
Redress campaign to help torture victim like Les Walker seeks justice through civil courts.
"Governments hate to be embarrassed," says Carla Ferstman, Director of Redress, an NGO dedicated to seeking justice for survivors of torture.
"If this bill is enacted it'll send a message: there are consequences for everything. And it'll be a vindication for torture survivors.
She's speaking from Redress's headquarters in Vauxhall, London, where the organisation is campaigning to see new legislation brought in to improve the rights of torture victims.
The bill in question, the Torture (Damages) Bill, was introduced into the House of Lords by Lord Archer of Sandwell in February 2008 and is now past its second reading. If enacted, foreign governments and officials guilty of torture will no longer be safe from civil suits in the UK, allowing victims to pursue them through the courts.
One such victim is Les Walker, a British national imprisoned in Saudi Arabia in February 2001 for more than 900 days. With no recourse to the law, he was kept in isolation for four months and systematically tortured over ten weeks.
Upon his release he has been unable to function normally, with serious physical and psychological problems. In 2006 his claim against the Government of Saudi Arabia was rejected by the House of Lords on the grounds of State Immunity, which prevents torture victims seeking justice through a UK civil court.
"The British Government usually doesn't want to see these kinds of cases go ahead," says Ferstman. "They'll take the side of the foreign government for political and diplomatic reasons. That's what angers victims the most- that their own government won't stand up for them and appears not to care about them."