Afghan issue sees Higgins ejected from Dail

Mr Michael D. Higgins was ejected from the Dáil this morning for insisting on holding a debate on the deaths of 600 Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan.

There is also a dangerous feeling put abroad that a lesser standard of human rights will suffice in Afghanistan, that the Geneva Convention applies only to Western conflicts Labour’s spokesman on foreign affairs, Mr Michael D. Higgins

Labour’s spokesman on foreign affairs claimed the deaths of the prisoners, who revolted at a fort in Mazar-e-Sharif and were subdued by Northern Alliance troops and US airstrikes, was a "premeditated slaughter" and a breach of the Geneva Convention.

He demanded that the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, take a lead role in demanding an immediate UN inquiry into both this "affront to humanity" and today’s reported deaths of 160 unarmed prisoners near Kandahar.

Mr Higgins also requested in the House that the Government bring forward the International Criminal Court Bill but was ejected after being ruled out of order and repeatedly refusing to sit down.

"This conflict has had a heavy veil of censorship over it. There is also a dangerous feeling put abroad that a lesser standard of human rights will suffice in Afghanistan, that the Geneva Convention applies only to Western conflicts," Mr Higgins claimed this afternoon.

He accused the Government of staying "shamefully silent" over the deaths.