authorities. In a letter dated April 19, 1999, the Prime Minister’s Private Secretary wrote: “In general, the Prime Minister’s priority is to see these four Islamic Jihad members returned to Egypt. We should do everything possible to achieve it.”213 The Youssef judgment includes details regarding negotiations with the Egyptian authorities, including that the Egyptians refused a number of assurances originally proposed by the U.K. to ensure respect for the men’s right to be free from torture, and to have a fair trial and full procedural rights. In the midst of the exchanges, the Prime Minister’s private secretary wrote that, “He [the Prime Minister] believes that we should use whatever assurances the Egyptians are willing to offer, to build a case to initiate the deportation procedure and to take our chance in the courts.”214 The inherent weaknesses of post-return monitoring notwithstanding (see section above), the Prime Minister was even willing to forgo a weak assurance that the men’s safety would be monitored after return: “There is no obvious reason why British officials need to have access to Egyptian nationals held in prison in Egypt, or why the four should have access to a UK-based lawyer. Can we not narrow down the list of assurances we require?”215 In the end, the Egyptian authorities refused to permit Mr. Youssef and the other men access to British officials once returned or to U.K.-based lawyers. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) reported: In the FCO’s view there was no alternative to access by British officials. The ICRC had a permanent presence there but had been refused access to prisoners; it would not visit particular prisoners without a general agreement allowing it access to all prisoners and would not get involved in any process which could in any way be perceived to contribute to, facilitate, or result in the deportation of individuals to Egypt.216 The Youssef case illustrates an alarming disregard for the U.K.’s international and regional treaty obligations when seeking to remove from its territory foreign nationals suspected of terrorism. It depicts the very “end run” around the nonrefoulement obligation that Human Rights Watch has warned against in its reporting on diplomatic assurances. 213 Ibid., para. 20. 214 Ibid., para. 38. 215 Ibid., para. 18. 216 Ibid., para. 26. 71 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17 NO. 4(D)