While delivering a lecture at the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Australia, and in an interview with BBC radio today, the head of Britain's judiciary delivered some strong words against the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Lord Chancellor, Lord Charles Falconer, said judicial control over the executive government was critical in a modern democracy.
"It is a part of the acceptance of the rule of law that the courts will be able to exercise jurisdiction over the executive," Lord Falconer said. ...
"It is because of that principle that the USA, deliberately seeking to put the detainees beyond the reach of the law in Guantanamo Bay, is so shocking an affront to the principles of democracy. ... "
Both the AP and Australia's Herald Sun picked up the story.
more excerpts on the flip...
Lord Falconer destroys the myth that human rights must be sacrificed for security, and warned against undermining the very values we purport to be defending.
"We must recognise that national security is not a wand which sweeps away human rights, and human rights is not a barrier which prevents a state from protecting itself against those who would destroy it."
"For us to succeed in a battle which seeks to undermine our very way of life, we must win not just by the strength and effectiveness of the coercive and security apparatus of the state, but also because of the superiority of the values of our society over the values of those who attack us," he said.
"Without these values, what we are fighting for can get lost in the way we fight."
The Lord Chancellor has spoken out against the prison before -- examples here and here. It appears that he is now prepared to step up the pressure.
"The USA is a close and staunch ally of the United Kingdom. We have over time raised the issue in private, we have also sought to protect the interest of our own nationals that were in Guantanamo Bay, all of whom are now back," Falconer told the BBC.
"As time goes on, private words have to get replaced to some extent by public views," he said.
It is heartening to hear the eloquent and passionate defense of human rights and democratic values being spoken by so high ranking an official!