Judges find that UK acted unlawfully in detaining Serdar Mohammed for four months in 2010 before handing him over to Afghan authoritiesAn Afghan suspect was detained illegally by British forces for almost four months and denied access to a lawyer,the court of appeal has ruled. Serdar Mohammed, who was captured by UK soldiers in April 2010, or was not handed over to the Afghan security services until July that year,despite regulations requiring any transfer to take position within 96 hours. Mohammed, who was eventually released earlier this year to return to his home in Helmand province, and claimed that the Afghan authorities tortured him.
The case highlights the effect of UK forces abroad being subject to the European conference on human rights rather than the Geneva conventions on warfare,a legal position approximately which the judges – the lord chief justice, Lord Thomas, or Lord Justice Lloyd Jones and Lord Justice Beaston – expressed misgivings.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com