Australian govt to prohibit torture by secret service

The Australian government has bent to public pressure by proposing a law that would prohibit the torture of suspected terrorists by officers of the country's secret service.

The government had planned to make Australian Security Intelligence Organization officers immune from all criminal offenses committed in the course of their undercover work except in cases of homicide, causing serious injury, sexual assault or serious damage to property.

Attorney General George Brandis announced on Monday that torture would be added to the list, after the opposition and other critics complained that officers should not be protected from legal liability for torturing suspects.

Because torture is against Australian law, no operation involving torture can ever be authorized, Brandis said.

"I've decided to add an explicit prohibition in relation to torture, insofar as concerns special intelligence operations," Brandis told reporters.

"I want to stress there is absolutely no necessary legal reason to do this. I am doing so because it is something that ASIO is perfectly happy to have expressed on the face of the legislation, and so as to avoid this debate being diverted by an issue that is nothing but a red herring."

ASIO's Secretary-General Duncan Lewis, who took over Australia's secret service last week, said torture was contrary to Australia's international obligations.

"The Australian Security Intelligence Organization has never practiced torture, it does not practice torture, and it never will," Lewis said. "And for that reason, I'm perfectly happy that this addition is placed into the proposed legislation."

George Williams, a University of New South Wales legal expert, said the amendment specifically to prohibit torture was necessary to prevent intelligence officers from being able to torture with impunity. The amended legislation will be introduced in Parliament on Wednesday.

Williams, whose university has been studying Australian counterterrorism laws for several years, said some of the laws went too far.

He said the US and Britain both had higher terrorism threats than Australia, but neither country had the equivalent of Australia's preventive detention orders. Under such orders, suspected terrorists can be held for up to 14 days without charge. The suspects are not allowed to disclose their whereabouts, even to family.

The orders, which were introduced in 2005, were used for the first time last week when police arrested 16 people during counterterrorism raids in Sydney. One man was charged with conspiring with an Islamic State movement leader in Syria to kidnap and behead a randomly selected person in Sydney. He remains in custody. Another three men were held under preventive detention orders, but have since been released.

A sunset clause means the legislation that created the orders will expire in December 2015.

The government had planned to make the law permanent. But Brandis said that after consultation with Muslim leaders, he had decided to include another 10-year sunset clause that will extend the legislation to 2025.

Australia raised its terror warning to the second-highest level two weeks ago in response to what it said was a domestic threat posed by supporters of the Islamic State group.