U.N. Official Decries Anti-Terror Bill

Audience members listen as President Bush makes remarks on the 'global war on terror' to the Reserve Officers Association in Washington on Friday, Sept. 29, 2006. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (Gerald Herbert - AP)

MADRID, Spain -- The top U.N. official on torture said Friday that a bill before the U.S. Congress could deprive terrorism suspects of a fair trial and was especially troubling after the mistreatment of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

The legislation, expected to clear a final congressional hurdle Friday and go to the White House for the president's signature, was condemned by many politicians, human rights groups and newspapers around the world as a violation of international law and an invitation to torture. At least two U.S. allies _ Poland and Britain _ declined to comment directly on the proposal.

Manfred Nowak, the U.N. anti-torture investigator, said the bill was particularly troubling following known abuses in U.S. detention facilities.

"I'm very disappointed," he told The Associated Press in Geneva. "It doesn't send the signal that we would have expected after Abu Ghraib."

In Poland, Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrzej Sados would not speak directly about the legislation, but said "certain extraordinary tools in fighting terrorism are acceptable."

The British Foreign Office also would not comment specifically on the measure, but said it welcomed the Bush administration's decision to grant the International Red Cross access to 14 important detainees, such as former al-Qaida No. 3 Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. It reiterated Britain's view that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should be closed.

Human rights groups were among the sharpest critics of the legislation.

Shami Chakrabarti, director the of U.K.-based human rights group Liberty, said, "This unsavory political compromise will send the worst possible signal about the United States government's commitment to the rule of law."

In an editorial on Friday, the Swiss daily Tribune de Geneve said: "Bush Junior now has tailor-made justice."

The legislation would apply its rules for court proceedings only to those selected by the military for prosecution and would not generally affect the rest of the 14,000 prisoners in U.S. military custody, most of whom are in Iraq. The bill would protect detainees from blatant abuse _ such as rape and torture _ but does not require automatic legal counsel and specifically bars detainees from protesting their detentions in federal courts.

The Pentagon had previously selected 10 prisoners at Guantanamo to be tried and President Bush is expected also to try some or all of the 14 suspects held by the CIA in secret prisons and recently transferred to military custody at Guantanamo.

In Iraq, strong opposition to the legislation appeared to be one of the few things Shiite and Sunni politicians could agree on.

"This bill violates human rights and restricts freedoms," said Saleem al-Jibour, a lawmaker with the Iraqi Islamic Party, a major Sunni political group.

Abdul Karim al-Inazi, a lawmaker from Shiite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party, said the bill marked the "abandonment of all calls for human rights and democracy."

Officials in some other nations had a more positive view.

Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock said he had been assured by his U.S. counterpart Alberto Gonzales that the bill would ensure a fair trial for the only Australian held at Guantanamo Bay, David Hicks.

Boar Ganor, a terrorism and security analyst at Israel's Interdisciplinary Center, said the new U.S. legislation balanced effectively fighting terrorism and guarding democratic liberties.

"You have to consider sacrificing some effectiveness in counterterrorism for the sake of democratic values, and some democratic values for the sake of efficiency in counterterrorism," Ganor said. "Israeli governments and the Israeli Supreme Court have recognized that guarding people's lives is the most important liberal and democratic value of all."