Pinochet case: fairness and transparency still in doubt

The human rights organisations will now consider the implications of

the ruling and possible courses of action.

'We took action in court in an effort to ensure that all decisions in

the extradition proceedings are reached in a fair and transparent manner,'

Amnesty International said. 'Throughout the proceedings we have called for

justice not politics.'

Amnesty International continues to call on the Home Secretary to

honour the requests made by the interested parties -- including Belgium,

France, Spain and Switzerland -- to allow them to nominate experts to carry

out another medical examination and to make the medical report available.

'Justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done,' Amnesty

International concluded.

Background

An application for permission to seek judicial review of Jack Straw's

latest actions in the Pinochet case was submitted on 25 January by lawyers

representing Amnesty International, the Association of the Relatives of

Detained and Disappeared Persons in Chile, Human Rights Watch, Justicia,

The Medical Foundation for the Care of the Victims of Torture, and Redress.

The court also denied Belgium, one of the four states requesting Augusto

Pinochet's extradition on charges of torture and 'disappearance' (which

amounts to torture for the relatives of the 'disappeared'), permission to

seek judicial review.

If the Home Secretary were to decide not to extradite Augusto Pinochet to

any of the four requesting states, then under the Convention against

Torture, he must refer the case to the prosecuting authorities for

investigation and possible prosecution.