Stop The Independent Advocating Torture

Bruce Anderson wrote an article published by The Independent Newspaper UK on Monday, 15 February 2010, in which he advocated the 'right' and the 'duty' of the state to torture women and children on the basis of self-preservation from a 'ticking bomb':

"Before 9/11, in front of some serious lawyers, I once argued that if there were a ticking bomb, the Government would not only have a right to use torture. It would have a duty to use torture. Up sprang Sydney Kentridge, ... "Let's take your hypothesis a bit further. We have captured a terrorist, but he is a hardened character. We cannot be certain that he will crack in time. We have also captured his wife and children".

After much agonising, I have come to the conclusion that there is only one answer to Sydney's question. Torture the wife and children."

(http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/bruce-anderson/bruce-anderson-we-not-only-have-a-right-to-use-torture-we-have-a-duty-1899555.html )

Torture is illegal in the UK and under international law and the UN Convention against Torture, to which the UK Government is a signatory: (http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html)

We, the undersigned, believe it is wrong for a mainstream British newspaper to advocate torture as it's a threat to democracy itself and a precursor to the collapse into a fascist state.