Security and intelligence - new material (12)
01 October 2009
Cruel Britannia: British Complicity in the Torture and Ill-treatment of Terror Suspects in Pakistan. Human Rights Watch 2009, (ISBN 1-56432-571-7) pp. 46. While the British government continues to fly in the face of multiple lines of evidence in its denials of collaboration with the USA in the torture and ill-treatment of terrorist suspects, this Human Rights Watch report found that “UK complicity is clear.” This report provides accounts from five UK citizens of Pakistani origin - Salahuddin Amin, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Rangzieb Ahmed, Rashid Rauf and a fifth individual - who were tortured in Pakistan by Pakistani security agencies between 2004 and 2007. The government’s “legally, morally and politically invidious position” has not prevented it from doing everything in its power to prevent evidence of its complicity in torture emerging (see for instance the case of Binyam Mohamed) and this report adds fuel to the campaign for an independent inquiry into Britain’s involvement in torture and the government’s cover-up. See: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/11/24/cruel-britannia-0
The truth about two men rendered by the UK to Bagram. Reprieve 7.12.09, pp. 9. This Reprieve investigation into Britain’s complicity in the USA’s illegal rendition programme reveals the identity of one man, Amantullah Ali, and some details of another, Salahuddin, who were handed over by the British to US forces to be rendered to Bagram Airbase. The British government has refused to identify the men and “has apparently taken no step over the last five years to ensure that they receive legal assistance”, with Defence Secretary John Hutton telling Parliament that the Shia men were members of the Sunni Lashkar e Tayyiba. The transfer of the two men also violated a Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and USA, by requesting that they are transferred back to this country and away from the illegal US torture centre at Bagram Airforce Base. Available at: http://reprieve.org.uk/2009_12_07_iraq_renditions
Tackling terrorism, Lord West. Police Product Review October / November 2009, p. 37. West, the under-secretary for security and counter-terrorism, opens with: “International terrorism remains the most significant risk to security of our country” and keeping up with the changing technological landscape. To this end we have yet another initiative, this time the launch of a three year science and technology counter-terrorism strategy. West thinks that calling on experts to come forward with “state-of-the-art” ideas will “help us reduce the threat from terrorism”, but a more accurate agenda is revealed when he writes: “Science and technology are important drivers of the UK economy and making the UK a world leader in counter-terrorist technology will help promote the development in other spheres.”