Inquiry into torture allegations announced (Britain)

[cal04]

Source: The Guardian

• British officials' role in abuses to be scrutinised
• Foreign secretary will appear before committee

MPs are to undertake the most far-reaching inquiry into Britain's role in human rights abuses in decades as allegations mount to suggest that officials repeatedly breached international law.

The Commons foreign affairs select committee will examine Britain's involvement in the detention, transfer and interrogation of prisoners held during the so-called war on terror. Among the matters to be examined later in the year are allegations, reported in the Guardian over the past two years, that British intelligence officers colluded in the torture of Britons held in Pakistan and Egypt.

David Miliband, the foreign secretary, will give evidence to the inquiry although he and Jacqui Smith, the home secretary, refused, earlier this year, to appear before parliament's joint committee on human rights, which is looking into reports that British officials were complicit in torture.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/04/torture-human-rights-inquiry

[bottomtheweaver]

1. It sounds like those Spanish indictments are having an effect.

Lots of Brits take vacations in Spain and indictments would definitely put an end to their frolicking, though they probably have more serious fears too.

[L. Coyote]

2. Evidence Anyone? CIA Has 3,000 Docs on Torture Tapes

CIA Has 3,000 Docs on Torture Tapes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5303329

Any day now, the ACLU case will see release the legal memos in the US.
The torture story has no statute of limitations.

[steven johnson]

3. BBC (4/4/09): UK torture collusion 'widespread'

It appears the information on the British involvement in the mistreatment of terrorism suspects abroad is getting a lot of play in the press. A human rights group, Cageprisoners, said there were 29 cases of security service involvement with tortured or mistreated suspects.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7983914.stm