The same problems everywhere

Britain's law lords are today hearing a challenge to the British government's anti-terrorism policies - specifically, their use of indefinate detention without charge or trial for foreigners suspected of terrorism. If this sounds familiar, it's because it's the same sort of treatment our government is dealing out to Ahmed Zaoui. Like Zaoui, the British internees have been kept in solitary confinement, denied access to the evidence against them, and have not been charged with any crime. Unlike Zaoui, they may be being imprisoned on the basis of evidence extracted under torture. The law lords will also be deciding on the legality of this practice, and hopefully they'll see fit to extinguish that particular atrocity as well.