U.N. official decries anti-terror bill [View All]

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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Terror_Legislation_World_View.html

U.N. official decries anti-terror bill

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."