Torture, 'The Mirror' and others

If torture claims are true, we could face international court

If torture claims are true, we could face international court

Sir: Hugh McManners ("The truth about torture and imprisonment", 13 May) claims that the British military, to keep prisoners disorientated between interrogation sessions, might hood them, subject them to white noise and force them to stand in contorted positions. If he is correct, then it would appear that the British Army is still prepared to use interrogation methods that have been expressly banned in this country, and are illegal under international law.

The measures Mr McManners lists are three of the five interrogation techniques, refined by the KGB, which British security forces introduced in Northern Ireland in 1971, using them against 14 republican prisoners rounded up when internment was introduced. They were all eventually released without charge, some of them suffering acute psychological illness. The Prime Minister, Edward Heath, announced that the Government would cease using the techniques, and later the Attorney General, Sam Silkin, pledged in the European Court of Human Rights, defending against an action based on the use of the techniques brought by the Irish government against Britain, that they would never again be used. The court subsequently ruled that the five techniques were inhuman and degrading, and breached Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In the event that such acts are serious enough to constitute torture, and the current case law of the European Court of Human Rights indicates that they probably are, soldiers using such methods today could face prosecution under the Criminal Justice Act (1988) which incorporated the prohibition against torture contained in the UN Convention against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment into UK domestic law.

Any doctor assisting the British authorities in the manner Mr McManners suggests could be held to be complicit in the offence, and subject to charges of professional misconduct.

In any event, such interrogation techniques are certainly contrary to the Geneva Conventions, and if found to be perpetrated on a large scale, or as part of a plan or policy, will fall within the remit of the International Criminal Court.

MALCOLM SMART
Director, Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture
London N7

Sir: Taking a break from the interminable fulminating about "torture" and "abuse" in Iraqi prisons may allow an unpalatable reality to dawn: the despised tactics we so vehemently condemn do have the ability to loosen the tongues of captured killers and furnish our forces with lifesaving confessions essential to our reconstruction efforts.

Much as it may offend liberal sensibilities, war is cruel. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueller it is, the sooner it will be over.

KEITH GILMOUR
Glasgow

'Mirror' affair is no reason to gloat

Sir: I congratulate The Independent on one of the few reasoned responses to the dismissal of Piers Morgan as editor of the Daily Mirror (leading article, 15 May).

It became all too quickly apparent that the photographs of British soldiers maltreating Iraqi prisoners were almost certainly fakes. However it also became quickly apparent that the story behind the pictures was almost certainly, and quite shockingly, true.

And the spectacle of both those in government and senior military figures connected with the regiment in question, members of which may well now face charges concerning events in Iraq, gloating over Piers Morgan's sacking is thoroughly nauseating - not least because the real issues are being quite cynically pushed aside by those in powerful places.

There are obvious similarities to the BBC affair. Now another voice which dared to question, and even to dissent on occasion, has been effectively silenced. The Daily Mirror campaigned boldly against the Iraq War, however ultimately its editor printed a falsehood, albeit unwittingly, and was sacked. But our government, ignoring the protests of millions, took us to war on a false premise and has not even apologised. Our Prime Minister told untruths to the British people, whether unwittingly or not we have yet to learn, and is still in his job. So much for democracy.

HILARY BONNER
Wellington, Somerset

Sir: When it was a question of weapons of mass destruction, the BBC was blamed for reporting that the Government had not been truthful. Now, when the issue is mistreatment of prisoners, we are blinded by an allegation that certain photographs are not accurate. The issue of torture is lost, and the blame is placed on a newspaper for reporting it. When will Tony Blair accept that people are dying not because of the media, but because of his misguided policies?

LARRY JOHNSTON
Modrydd, Brecon

Sir: According to your editorial of 14 May, the Daily Mirror was justified in its use of faked photographs as evidence of what you describe as an awkward wider truth.

It is an argument that your paper would have rightly and unequivocally condemned if put forward say by the police as justification for fabricating evidence, or the Government when presenting their dossier justifying war in Iraq.

You cannot expose the truth with a lie and you should be ashamed of yourselves for suggesting you can.

MATTHEW COLLINS
London NW6

Sir: Despite the dismissal of the editor of the Daily Mirror, sadly untold damage has already been done.

No matter how false these pictures are a large proportion of the Muslim world want to believe them, as it suits the cause of a small minority of fanatics to stir up hatred throughout the world.

It makes the British Army's job of trying to rebuild Iraq almost impossible and it puts the lives of decent service men and women at risk, not to mention the many western civilians who are offering their skills to the nation of Iraq to rebuild the country.

SIMON ICKE
Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire

What Africa needs

Sir: It is good to see Africa in the news ("Geldof warns Blair that Africa could be a 'badge of shame' ", 5 May). But Africa needs more than words or simply more money. It needs a rethink on aid, trade and investment.

Professor Roger Gbegnonvi of the University of Abomey-Calvi in the Bénin press recently wrote that "there will be no poverty reduction in Bénin while we [Africans] eat bread from wheat and not from maize... because then it is farmers in France... who develop".

Development within Africa has four needs:

1. Education, to transform the potential of people into development, through creating centres of training and excellence in universities and simply by building and funding more schools.

2. Trade and markets: subsidies in the EU, US and other rich nations hold back development in Africa and must come to an end especially on products exported to Africa (while tariffs and barriers to African exports must also end); better use needs to be made of locally available products and goods, which are often currently undercut by subsidised imports. Second-hand textiles exported from the developed world, for example, have destroyed textile industries in Africa. It is essential that more profits are generated and retained in local economies to encourage locally owned investment in infrastructure, development, education and health.

3. Health: mortality from malaria and HIV/Aids is a brake on development. A healthy population is essential to development.

4. Infrastructure and energy: the lack of infrastructure and relative high cost of energy hold back development in Africa; in particular the potential of solar energy in Africa is vast and needs to be harnessed for economic development.

Finally, in Europe and the US and other rich-country markets, we need to get the message out to consumers that every time we congratulate ourselves on a cheap bargain in food and textiles the cost is being paid for by someone, somewhere else, very often an African farmer and their family - too often, with their lives.

Professor DAVO SIMPLICE VODOUHE
Organisation Béninoise pour la Promotion de l'Agriculture Biologique, Bénin

ALEXANDRA BAIER
Pesticide Action Network (PAN), Germany

SIMON FERRIGNO
PAN UK
London SW2

Local tax reform

Sir: Your editorial analysis of local income tax (12 May) couldn't be more wrong. You argue that a local income tax would create bureaucracy. The reverse is true. It would be administered centrally by the Inland Revenue, piggy-backing on an existing tax bureaucracy, and would enable all the bureaucracy linked to council tax and council tax benefit to go. At least £300m a year could be saved.

You suggest that council tax is not that unfair. Yet the poorest 10 per cent of people, after benefits and discounts, pay over four times the council tax that the richest 10 per cent pay as a share of their income.

You suggest that "everyone should have a stake in local services by paying something". Because there are more income tax payers than council tax payers, more people will be contributing directly under our system, albeit at lower levels of tax.

You suggest the rich will move to "low-tax" boroughs. We have deliberately "capped" the level of income to which local income tax would apply to £100,000 to avoid that very problem.

You suggest the USA's experience implies richer areas grow richer and poorer areas grow poorer, when there is no evidence to back that up at all. Local income tax operates successfully in countries with much greater equality than the UK, such as Sweden and Denmark. Their grant redistribution system, like ours, supports areas with lower income-tax bases.

The strongest argument for local income tax you ignore, namely that it would be the foundation for a radical decentralisation from Whitehall that could strengthen local democracy and deliver the pluralist politics The Independent normally campaigns for.

EDWARD DAVEY MP
Liberal Democrat Local Government Spokesman
House of Commons

Women's work

Sir: The CBI is right to point out that changing parents' attitudes towards certain trades is crucial if the Government's plans for a new apprenticeship system are to be successful (report, 11 May). This is especially relevant to women, as negative perceptions about many trades has a particularly strong effect on their work and training opportunities.

The EOC's new report on sex segregation, Plugging the Skills Gap, finds that stereotypes about trades such as plumbing and construction often prevent women from choosing apprenticeships in these areas. Parents play a key part in influencing choices, often steering their daughters into other areas seen as more "respectable" and "feminine". Similarly, men can also be deterred from training in childcare by parents who feel that the sector is more suitable for women.

If we want to meet skills shortages in key sectors of the economy and open up more choices to all young people, we cannot afford to ignore the need to change attitudes to the trades - and to the people that do them.

JULIE MELLOR
Chair
Equal Opportunities Commission
London SW1

Spare the tyrant

Sir: I read that it is proposed to remove the statue of the tyrant Cromwell from in front of the Houses of Parliament (Pandora, 14 May). Pity. I shall have no one to shake my fist at as I cross Parliament Square.

FRED TILDESLEY
Thame, Oxfordshire

Demeaning tips

Sir: There is a foolproof formula that will solve all tipping eventualities: abolish the culture of tipping ("The tipping point", 15 May). If a country has a minimum wage people can actually live on, tipping becomes unnecessary. This has been achieved in Denmark. Tipping is demeaning to both recipient and giver. Why should a worker have to rely on random and unpredictable generosity in order to achieve a decent wage? If someone has a decent wage why should we tip if they do their job well? Isn't that what is expected of us all?

FRANCES PADFIELD
Harbertonford, Devon

Back to school

Sir: Taking a lead from Midland Mainline's referring to passengers rather than customers (letter, 15 May), it is now high time that the education community took similar steps to revert to calling their charges pupils, not students. Students go university and have to take responsibility for themselves, whereas pupils are the responsibility of educationalists and parents.

R ALLEN
Long Eaton, Derbyshire

Capital error

Sir: Apparently, "The Turkish capital has not seen this many Greeks since the fall of Constantinople" ("Greek fans storm Istanbul to back their 'Achilles of pop' in Eurovision", 15 May). So why are they in Ankara if the competition is in Istanbul?

CERI BROWN
Marple, Cheshire

Take no notice

Sir: Outside my local branch of Lloyds TSB: "Only guide dogs allowed in this branch". So, my question is, where do we humans go if we bank there; and who taught them to use the cashpoints?

MIKE NOBLE
Milton Keynes

Sir: Recently, in emergency, I was obliged to enter a "disabled toilet". To my relief, it worked perfectly.

Professor MICHAEL DAY
London NW3