Thank you for your letter of 20 October requesting a memorandum on the Government's policy on the use of evidence extracted under torture by third parties.

  The UK vehemently opposes torture as a matter of fundamental principle. Since the UK Anti-Torture Initiative was launched in 1998, the UK has intensified its efforts to combat torture wherever and whenever it occurs. The UK abides by its commitments under international law, including the UN Convention against Torture.

  The British Government including the intelligence and security agencies, never use torture to obtain information. Nor would we instigate others to commit torture for that purpose. The UK intelligence and security agencies carefully evaluate the intelligence they receive against a range of factors; any concerns about the source of the intelligence or the means by which it may have been obtained would be taken into account. Where we are helping other countries to develop their own counter-terrorism capability, we ensure that our training or other assistance promotes human rights compliance. More generally, we are active in pressing other countries to live up to their human rights obligations and to deliver on human rights commitments they have made.

Rt Hon Jack Straw MP

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

15 November 2004