UK Ministers Refuse to Answer Torture Questions

Ministers Refuse to Answer Torture Questions

Miliband and Smith snub human rights committee
MPs want head of MI5 to explain conduct of officers

The full extent of the complicity of the UK government in the US "war on terror" policy of torture and extraordinary rendition is now fast being uncovered. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, has exposed himself to allegations of lying to the high court about a threat from the US to withdraw co-operation in intelligence matters if documents about Binyam Mohammed were disclosed.

David Miliband and Jacqui Smith have both refused to appear before Parliament's human rights committee to answer questions about allegations of British collusion in the torture of British citizens and residents detained during counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan.

In a move that dismayed members of the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), a joint letter from the foreign secretary and home secretary is also said to have failed to answer any of the eight questions that the committee asked about legal provisions offering MI5 officers immunity in the UK for crimes committed overseas.

A number of other Britons detained in Pakistan, who say they were questioned by British intelligence officers after being tortured by the ISI have been subsequently prosecuted, or deported to the UK and subjected to control orders.

Binyam Mohamed was detained in Pakistan in 2002 and questioned by MI5 officers before being "rendered" by the United States to Morocco, where his lawyers claim he suffered appalling torture, including having his genitals slashed with a razor. It emerged in court that MI5 passed material to the CIA that was used during his interrogation.

The ministers' refusal comes just weeks after Miliband moved to prevent the release of information from 42 US intelligence documents that the high court says contain "powerful evidence" of the torture of Binyam Mohamed and which may have revealed what British ministers knew of his treatment.


for complete articles:

Ministers refuse to answer torture questions
February 28, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/28/terrorism-human-rights


Governments must not escape public scrutiny on torture
February 17, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/17/torture-whitehall