Torture in Iraq may be worse now than it was under the regime of Saddam Hussein, the United Nations’ chief anti-torture expert said today, describing a situation where militias, terrorist groups, government forces and others disregard rules on the humane treatment of prisoners.

The Irish Government must search US planes landing at Shannon Airport to establish whether they are carrying terrorist suspects, an United Nations expert on torture said tonight.

MORE THAN three-quarters of the public believe the Government should search CIA aircraft transiting through Shannon, a new national poll has found.

The UN’s torture investigator today urged America’s European allies to push Washington to close the detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

TREATMENT of detainees at Guantanamo Bay violates international law and in some cases constitutes torture, according to details of a draft United Nations report revealed yesterday.

Torture by authorities remains widespread in China, although it appears to be becoming less prevalent in big cities, the United Nations said today after a groundbreaking visit by a special investigator.

The European Commission said today it will investigate reports that the CIA set up secret jails in eastern Europe to interrogate al-Qaida captives.

British home secretary Charles Clarke angrily hit out at the United Nations today after a senior official warned that Britain’s plans to deport foreign Islamic extremists breached its international human rights obligations.

China has agreed to allow a fact-finding mission by a top United Nations official who investigates allegations of torture.

UN human rights experts seeking to visit the US base at Guantanamo Bay said yesterday they have reliable accounts that suspected terror detainees being held there have been tortured.