The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

The British government has given an eloquent demonstration of how seriously it takes its human rights commitments by signing a "memorandum of understanding" with mad-dog-turned-poodle-protégé Colonel Gadafy of Libya.

The Home Secretary, Cards Clarke, has deemed the presence on our pristine Belmarshed shores of a certain Libyan national as being "not conducive to the public good", and wishes to send the gentleman back where he came from. But Mr Clarke, poor Mr Clarke, is impeded by the European Convention on Human Rights, from which Britain has not yet opted out, which forbids him to exercise his powers of deportation when the country of destination is known to practise torture. Presumably, this is one of the reasons why we deport so few Americans.

The memorandum which the British ambassador has signed in Libya "obliges" the Gadafy regime to refrain from torturing, executing or otherwise aggressively incentivising the deportee. "The signing today of the UK's second MOU, this time with Libya, demonstrates that we are making progress in concluding agreements that will allow us to safely deport foreign nationals," stated Mr Clarke, cannily omitting to say whose safety was uppermost in mind.

Mr Clarke went on to believe that "these, and the other ongoing negotiations [with eight other North African and Middle Eastern states, some of them no doubt nearly as law-abiding as Libya], are an example of the effective international cooperation that we need in order to confront and defeat the type of terrorism we now face", as in London on 7 July, when a tube train was blown up by non-Libyan nationals.

Still, the Blair government's commitment to the human rights of non-Britons and other suspected terrorists is, of course, a matter of extensive public record. Once the Libyan gentleman has received his official welcome back home, the British embassy will, of course, follow his subsequent fate with the deepest interest. Any transgressions by Colonel Gadafy's enforcers will, of course, be instantly reported to the British Foreign Office, which will then take stern measures to ensure that Libya lives up to its obligations.

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