EU states 'use outsourced torture'

Britain, France and Germany must stop using intelligence obtained through torture in third-party countries, a report from Human Rights Watch has said. The human rights body said on Tuesday that the practice is illegal, contradicts the EU's anti-torture guidelines and is self-defeating in the fight against "terrorism". "France, Germany and the United Kingdom ... demonstrate, through policy statements and practice, a willingness [even eagerness] to co-operate with foreign intelligence services ... notorious for abusive practices," the report said. The report No Questions Asked: Intelligence Co-operation with Countries that Torture said that the use of such information and defending the legitimacy of doing so, "risks creating a market for torture intelligence". The New York-based group has called on the three countries to publicly reject reliance on such intelligence and reaffirm the absolute prohibition on the use of torture evidence in any kind of proceedings.