Our guys at the Foreign Office got an early Christmas present this year:

FCO Press Release (23/12/05): UK SIGNS MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING WITH LEBANON

Today the Government of the Lebanese Republic and the Government of the United Kingdom (UK) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate the deportation of persons suspected of activities associated with terrorism.

And not forgettting that “the UK signed similar MOUs with the Kingdom of Jordan on 10 August and with Libya on 18 October”.

Still, look on the bright side:

Madeleine Moon (Bridgend, Lab):To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he takes if a deportee is discovered to have suffered an unfair trial, torture or ill treatment, in contravention of the UK’s agreement with the receiving country.

Tony McNulty (Minister of State (Immigration, Citizenship and Nationality), Home Office): We firmly believe that governments are entering into these agreements in good faith, and are confident that they will abide by the terms of any assurances given. Any contravention of a bilateral international agreement between Her Majesty’s Government and another government would be a matter of considerable concern.

If there were an allegation suggesting that the terms of an agreement had not been honoured, we would seek an immediate report of the circumstances from the authorities of the receiving state, and would request immediate access to the individual concerned.

Action thereafter would depend on the nature of the breach, and on the remedial action, if any, taken by the authorities in the country concerned; it could include a request for an independent inquiry, and/or a request for the receiving state to take remedial action. Failure to comply with formal political commitments in a Memorandum of Understanding or similar political instrument can seriously damage relations between the signatory states, and the standing of the state concerned in the international community generally.

If you are unlucky enough find yourself spirited back to Libya or Lebanon or Jordan, you can console yourself, as the electrodes are applied to your genitals and you are being sexually assaulted, that what is being done to you is seriously damaging relations with the UK. Comfort yourself between your screams with the knowledge that an independent inquiry may soon be underway and remedial action shall salve your battered body.