Schedule 4
Counter-Terrorism Bill
12:00 pm
David Heath (Somerton and Frome, Liberal Democrat)
I have that at the forefront of my thoughts. It is not merely those countries that are openly despotic, but those countries that would say that they accept the same principles of law that we understand in this country, who nevertheless feel that there are exceptional circumstances that allow them to use processes that in anybody’s book come under the categories of duress or torture in order to gain evidence. The United States has a very serious charge against it; indeed I was one of many colleagues—I think the right hon. and learned Member for Sleaford and North Hykeham may have been another—who was amicus curiae in the case on Guantanamo Bay in the United States on precisely this issue. It does concern me, so I shall listen very carefully to what the Minister has to say. There are countries to which it is obviously applicable and there are others to which it is less obviously applicable, but under either circumstance, courts in this country should not be making legal orders on the basis of evidence that is inadmissible in this country because it is obtained from unsavoury practices that would be illegal within this country. That is the assurance, in very clear terms, that I want the Minister to give me this morning.