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British spies accused of human rights violations

by Amy Judd | February 28, 2009 at 12:09 pm

117 views | 22 Recommendations | 4 comments

Two British spies have been accused of violating human rights laws as they aided and abetted the torture and detaining of terrorist suspects.

A United Nations human rights expert said that the UK had participated in interrogations and asked questions during torture sessions when visiting Guantanamo Bay prison or secret CIA jails, and the UN human rights expert, Martin Scheinin, said that even though they were just observers they still took part in 'an internationally wrongful act'.

"The active participation by a state through the sending of interrogators or questions, or even the mere presence of intelligence personnel at an interview with a person who is being held in places where he is tortured or subject to other inhuman treatment, can be reasonably understood as implicitly condoning torture," Mr Scheinin writes.

The report is an embarrassment to the British government who have tried to conceal acts like this before, such as their complicity in the torture of Binyam Mohamed, the British resident who spent some time in Guantanamo Bay. Charges against Mr. Mohamed were dropped last year.
Mr. Scheinin's report also said that Australian, British and United States personnel had all interviewed detainees in so called 'safe houses', where the men were in fact tortured. 'Receiving intelligence from torture or other inhuman treatment' is a breach of torture conventions and Mr. Scheinin asks those governments to crack down on this type of behaviour.
His report will be discussed by the United Nations Human Rights Council that will be held in Geneva in March.

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generaldecay

at 12:18 on February 28th, 2009

Thanks for posting this Amy - it's important stuff.

jazzyzazzy

at 14:11 on February 28th, 2009

Two wrongs do not make a right .Also innocent until proven quilty. Torturers cannot get my head around where their heads are at. Sick just plain sick.

Pythiian1

at 15:18 on February 28th, 2009

Thanks for this good piece, Amy.

Fripouille

at 17:00 on February 28th, 2009

Scandalous! Couldn't agree more!

Those English spies found guilty of these appallingly wrongful acts should be filmed as they are decapitated and have the videos of it put up on the internet. If not, they should be flown into buildings. Whatever.

There is no excuse for this kind of vicious torture, meted out arbitrarily by Western colonialist fascists, upon god-fearing and law-abiding citizens who are being persecuted for their humanistic and democratic beliefs......