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Judge rules UK government wrongly imprisoned torture victims
Updated 9:14 am, Tuesday, October 10, 2017
Judge Duncan Ouseley ruled in favor of former detainees and a charity who said the government relied on an unreasonably narrow definition of torture when deciding whether asylum applicants should be detained while their cases were processed.
Government policy says asylum-seekers who can show evidence of torture should only be detained in exceptional circumstances because of the risk they may be harmed by detention.
But a change introduced in September 2016 narrowed the definition of torture to cover only acts committed by state agents or terror groups holding territory, rather than by any individual or group.
The claimants' lawyers argued that policy had led to many detainees, including victims of trafficking, no longer being recognized as torture victims. The seven claimants included victims of sexual trafficking and a man who had been kidnapped by the Taliban.
More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Judge-rules-UK-government-wrongly-imprisoned-12265953.php