guarantees have occurred since 11 September 2001, what the State party’s minimum contents are for such assurances or guarantees and what measures of subsequent monitoring it has undertaken in such cases.”206 The government of the U.K. has openly acknowledged that all the men formerly subjected to indefinite detention are at risk of torture upon return. That admission led to the men’s detentions in the first place; the U.K. authorities knew they could not derogate from the U.K.’s nonrefoulement obligation—and nothing has changed since then. Most of the governments in the detainees’ home countries have a long history of practicing torture and there is a significant risk that the men will be tortured if they are returned, whatever promises their home governments may offer.207 Case of Hani El Sayed Sabaei Youssef and Others The U.K. government first proposed the use of assurances to deport suspected terrorists at risk of torture in their home countries in a February 2004 Home Office consultation paper. The paper claimed that the purpose of diplomatic assurances, termed “framework agreements,” is “to protect the deportees’ human rights following departure from the U.K.”208 Closer inspection of the U.K.’s record of seeking and securing assurances for returns to risk of torture, however, indicates that a detainee’s safety post-return has not been a primary consideration. The July 2004 case of Hani Youssef v. Home Office offers an account of the sheer determination of the Prime Minister to send Mr. Youssef and three others to Egypt, despite clear evidence that their transfers, assurances included, would violate the U.K.’s nonrefoulement obligation.209 The High Court decision of July 2004 held that Mr. Youssef had been unlawfully detained after it was clear to the authorities that there was no possibility to return him to Egypt in conformity with the U.K.’s nonrefoulement obligation. The ruling revealed numerous disturbing details regarding the British government’s attempts throughout 1999 to deport the men, all asylum seekers determined to have had a well-founded fear 206 Ibid., Section 5(i). 207 Human Rights Watch Press Release, “U.K.: Promises on Torture Don’t Work,” [online] http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/10/06/uk9459.htm (retrieved February 28, 2005). See also, Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, “Commentary on the Prevention of Terrorism Bill 2005,” pp. 9-11. 208 Home Office Discussion Paper, “Counter-Terrorism Powers: Reconciling Security and Liberty in an Open Society,” para. 38, February 2004 [online] http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/docs3/CT_discussion_paper.pdf (retrieved February 28, 2005). 209 Hani El Sayed Sabaei Youssef and The Home Office, Case No: HQ03X03052, 2004 EWHC 1884 (QB), July 30, 2004 [online] http://www.courtservice.gov.uk/judgmentsfiles/j2758/youssef-v-home_office.htm (retrieved February 28, 2005). For an excellent summary of the Youssef case, see Migration News Sheet, (Brussels: Migration Policy Group), December 2004, at pp. 13-14. See also, Statewatch, “U.K. Egyptian National ‘Unlawfully Detained’ after Intervention by Prime Minister,” August-October 2004 [online] http://www.statewatch.org/news/2004/nov/03blair.htm (retrieved February 28, 2005). 69 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17 NO. 4(D)