Remember Magna Carta

Sir,
Andrew Gilligan’s article (Cyprus Mail, May 17) that “even hijackers and killers have rights” had my co-villager Peter Davis (whom I do not know) “spitting in his soup” (letters, May 21).  Surely, he said, such people should “have no rights whatsoever”.

Does my co-villager, who is presumably British, not know of Magna Carta, and the 800 years of subsequent development of English jurisprudence protecting all citizens – which he washes down his sink in one or two fell sentences?

Luckily most people do know – which helps save the world, or at least its democracies, from tyrannical behaviour by rulers – and which may yet force that Black Hole in the Rule of Law (to quote Law Lord Steyn) of Guantanamo Bay to be closed down.

All this is not to say that there are no problems with the Human Rights Convention and Act,  adopted in Britain by Blair’s government with much fanfare, only to be criticised when judges acted in accordance with its provisions but contrary to his wishes.  This is what happens when governments adopt vaguely or inadequately worded laws largely for propaganda purposes.

Roger Tompkins, Droushia

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.