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UK Liberal Democrats demand independent torture investigation

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] British Liberal Democrats voted Monday to support a motion calling for a public investigation into the UK's potential complicity in torture. The motion, passed at the party's conference, calls for: A full and independent public inquiry into the facts relating to the involvement or knowledge of the British Government on matters relating to torture, extraordinary rendition and the illegal transfer of detainees to foreign jurisdictions in the period between 11 September 2001 and 20 January 2009.The motion also requests details relating to every British policy on the matters from the last 20 years, the release of 42 documents relating to the treatment of Binyam Mohamad, that foreign governments not support Tony Blair for the presidency of the European Council pending a determination of his role in condoning torture, and that the UK renegotiate the US's use of Diego Garcia "to include full respect for fundamental human rights and a complete accounting of the circumstances in which the base on that island was used in relation to internationally prohibited acts." The conference, which began Saturday, is scheduled to run through Wednesday.Earlier this month, Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced that the British government was investigating allegations that Secret Intelligence Service officers had tortured detainees. The announcement came in response to a report published in August by the UK Parliament Joint Committee on Human Rights calling for an independent inquiry into allegations regarding government complicity in the torture of UK terrorism suspects. Miliband, joined by Home Secretary Alan Johnson and MI6 Chief John Scarlett, denied the allegations, saying that the UK does not participate in or condone the use of torture. Allegations in the report include the complicity in torture of Mohamed before he was brought to Guantanamo Bay. In July, the UK Metropolitan Police Service announced that it was investigating the alleged mistreatment of Mohamed by intelligence officers. Mohamed claims that he was tortured by Pakistani agents and interrogated by FBI and MI5 agents complicit in his abuse. He was transferred to Morocco, allegedly part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, where he claims that British agents supplied his torturers with questions.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on September 21, 2009 (boomark / email).