Tuesday 24th November 2009
»Human Rights Watch: Cruel Britannia: British Complicity in the Torture and Ill-treatment of Terror Suspects
“First, it is inconceivable that the UK government was unaware of the systematic use of torture in Pakistan. In the circumstances of the close security relationship between the two countries this would represent a significant failure of British intelligence. Reports by governments, including the United States, reports by NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, court cases in Pakistan, and media accounts put everyone on notice that torture has long been endemic in Pakistan. No one in government in Pakistan has ever challenged this in conversations with Human Rights Watch.
Second, UK officials engaged in acts that virtually required that they knew about the use of torture in specific cases. Four men have described meeting British officials while detained in Pakistan. In some cases this happened shortly after sessions in which the individuals had been tortured, when it was likely that clear and visible signs of torture were present. For example, Rangzieb Ahmed alleges that he was interrogated by British security officials shortly after three fingernails had been pulled out.
Further, UK officials supplied questions and lines of enquiry to Pakistan intelligence sources in cases in which detainees were tortured. UK officials knew that interrogations of these UK citizens were taking place and that torture was routinely used in interrogations. The UK was also putting pressure on Pakistani authorities for results. In this environment, passing questions and offering ther cooperation in such cases without ensuring that the detainees were treated appropriately was an invitation to abuse.”
Human Rights Watch: Cruel Britannia: British Complicity in the Torture and Ill-treatment of Terror Suspects
read it here (pdf)
If this doesn’t make you angry, I pity you. The whole point of democracy is civilized behaviour, being better than the headcutting fanatics . If we’re not, we’re their moral and political equivalent.
Guardian article here.
8 notes:-
vruz liked this
-
gauntlet liked this
-
fralusans-ana-marein liked this
-
neurotical liked this
-
gillianam liked this
-
jesuisperdu liked this
-
crowth reblogged this from feastingonroadkill and added:
Guardian article here.
-
lifebyproxy liked this
-
feastingonroadkill posted this
