The Council of Europe, a European rights body, has sharply criticized the United Kingdom for its controversial asylum pact with Rwanda. “The United Kingdom government should refrain from removing people under the Rwanda policy and reverse the Bill’s effective infringement of judicial independence,” said the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O’Flaherty, in Strasbourg on Tuesday. The law raises questions about the human rights of asylum seekers and the rule of law in general, he said. The Council of Europe is independent of the EU and was founded in 1949 to protect democ…