U.N. castigates Australia for treatment of 46 refugees

GENEVA (Reuters) – Australia must compensate and release 46 refugees whom it has arbitrarily detained and treated in a cruel, inhuman and degrading way, a U.N. human rights watchdog has said. The U.N. report comes in the middle of an Australian election campaign where immigration is a major issue, as the rival parties vie to appear tough in promising to curb an influx of asylum seekers. Australia, which said the refugees had received adverse security assessments from its chief spy agency, the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, said it had six months to respond to the U.N. findings. …