Governments in the UK have traditionally exhibited a somewhat divided attitude to the use of torture. The trial of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1603 raised, in essence, the same issues as those in the more recent case of Abu Qatada, the cleric sought by Jordan. How fair can a trial be where evidence has been adduced by torture which is later retracted by the witnesses concerned? By and large, history has been kind to Walter Raleigh: the media are not so sympathetic to Abu Qatada, the ?terror cleric?.

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