They're Lucky They're Not in Guantánamo

Iran's British captives may be embarrassed and anxious, but they  appear to be better off than many detainees in American and British hands, observes novelist Ronan Bennett. "They have not been hung from a forklift truck and photographed for the amusement of their captors. They have not had electrodes attached to their genitals or been set on by attack dogs."

Bennet finds official outrage over the sailors'  "unjustified detention" hypocritical in light of the government's  "rather different views on what justifies detention where foreign-born Muslims in Britain are concerned."  Once they are safely returned, he noes dryly, comparing their treatment to accounts of veterans of Guantánamo might prove illustrative. (More Iran stories.)