UK/Torture

This is a page stub. Please add to it.

Foreign minister David Miliband stated the UK's official story that "Torture is abhorrent. Britain never supports or condones it", while simultaneously insisting that the UK's interrogation policy should not be made public. There is of course nothing new in these palpably false claims to virtue, that only a highly misinformed UK public could take seriously.

1950's Mau-Mau Uprising

After over 50 years of denial, the UK government finally admitted that it had tortured Kenyans involved in the Mau Mau Uprising.

2000's

Whistleblowers

Craig Murray (Uzbekistan)

Craig Murray was the UK ambassador to Uzbekistan until he resigned in 2004, citing UK support for torture as a major reason.

Ben Griffin (Iraq)

Ben Griffin worked in the SAS for 8 years and in February 2008 game a speech condemning the UK's complicity in torture. He was immediately served with an injunction to try to prevent him from speaking further about his experiences in SAS.

Victims

Binyam Mohamed

Binyam Mohamed was taken prisoner by US forces in Afghanistan in 2003 and rendered to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. He was released without charge and returned to the UK as a free man in February 2009.

Mohamed is currently (July 2010) pressing a civil action in the UK courts against the UK government alleging complicity in his torture and secret rendition.

After prolonged argument in the court, with the government and its security services strenuously opposed to their release, a series of documents were finally released to the public on 12 July 2010. The following is a list of links to pdf files of those documents, together with others relevant to the Binyam Mohamed case and held on the WikiSpooks site. The file names are fairly descriptive of content and there is additional information including file sizes at each of the links:

• File:2010 07 06 PUB New Government Guidelines on Torture - additional information .pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC14.pdf
• File:2010 07 06 PUB David Cameron letter to Peter Gibbs re Torture Inquiry .pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC13.pdf
• File:2005 03 01 PUB Intelligence and Security Committee Report.pdf
• File:2010 07 14 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case - Secret Services Memos Exhibit 22.pdf
• File:2010 07 14 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case - Claimaints Skeleton Argument 2.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC4.pdf
• File:2010 07 14 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case - Secret Services Memos Exhibit 21.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC9.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC11.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case Louise Christian Witness Statement.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC12.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC5.pdf
• File:2010 07 14 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case - Secret Services Memos Exhibit 20.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC8.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC15.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC16.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC10.pdf
• File:2010 07 09 Reprieve letter to Prime Minister Cameron re Torture Inquiry.pdf
• File:2010 07 14 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case - Fourth Witness Statement of Sapna Malik.pdf
• File:2010 07 14 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case - Secret Services Memos Exhibit 19.pdf
• File:2010 07 06 PUB New Government Guidelines on Torture .pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC7.pdf
• File:2010 07 15 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case- Exhibit LC6.pdf
• File:2010 07 14 PUB Binyam Mohamed Civil Case - Claimaints Skeleton Argument.pdf

Legal Framework

In 1978, charged before the European Court of Human Rights with torturing IRA suspects, Britain swore "a solemn undertaking" that it would never again deploy these psychological torture techniques. (developed in conjunction with the US). On December 7 2005 the House of Lords cited this case and branding torture "an unqualified evil" which should have no place in the proud, thousand-year tradition of British justice.