US 'breaching law in fight on terror'

US POLICIES in the war on terror are contravening international law on human rights, a top European investigator said yesterday.

"The strategy in place today respects neither human rights nor the Geneva Conventions," said Dick Marty, the head of a European investigation into alleged CIA prisons in Europe. "The current administration in Washington is trying to combat terrorism outside legal means, the rule of law."

Mr Marty, leading the investigation for the Council of Europe, said there was no question that the CIA was undertaking illegal activities in its transportation and detention of prisoners.

Mr Marty is to present his findings to the council's parliamentary assembly later this month.