New rules on torture deemed ‘unlawful’
Guidelines issued to Britain’s intelligence services on how to avoid complicity in torture are to be challenged in the High Court tomorrow, Simon Israel reports.
The Prime Minister and three other senior ministers are to face accusations that the guidance – which was brought in a year ago – is unlawful.
Lawyers acting for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) will argue that rather than protect, the rules expose detainees to a risk of torture, and also exposes Mi5 and Mi6 officers to risk of criminal prosecution. They claim that under these guidelines Britain could still fall short of its international obligations under the United Nations Convention on Torture.
The new guidelines were published following allegations that intelligence officers may have been complicit in the torture of a number of British suspects who were held overseas over the last decade.
A year ago the Government announced there would be an inquiry chaired by a judge into such allegations and to look at the rules governing the conduct of the security services.
However this inquiry has yet to take place.
Terror suspects held in Pakistan, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Morocco and Afghanistan have claimed they were subjected to inhumane treatment with the knowledge of UK intelligence officers who had asked for individuals to be held or had provided questions to their interrogators.
Torture claims
The Government is due to pay out millions of pounds in compensation to former Guantanamo Bay detainees, following allegations against the security services.
High profile detainees such as Binyam Mohamed, Bishar al Rawi, Jamil el Banna and Omar Deghayes were named last year as among those in line for a settlement.
Some of the former detainees are believed to be asylum seekers.
Scotland Yard launched an inquiry in November after Binyam Mohamed said an employee of the Secruity Service was aware of his ill-treatment while he was being held in Pakistan in 2002.
Mr Mohamed was granted refugee status in Britain in 1994 after seeking asylum from Ethiopia. He was arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of involvement in terrorism in 2001 and was “rendered” to Morocco and Afghanistan.
He alleged that this US captors tortured him before sending him to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. He returned to Britain in 2009 after the US dropped charges against him.
The Mi5 officer in question however, was not prosecuted on the grounds of “insufficient evidence”. Mr Mohamed was granted refugee status in Britain in 1994 after seeking asylum from Ethiopa.