Committee backs rights of torture victims

VICTIMS of torture should have the right to sue foreign governments for damages through British courts, a committee of MPs and peers has said.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights called on ministers to lift state immunity, rejecting government claims that the move would breach its international obligations.

The committee urged the Government to support a Bill being introduced in the Commons by Labour MP Andrew Dismore, who chairs the committee, which has been backed by a former lord chief justice.