From Unity, 21 March 2009

Full inquiry needed

Many times over many years have Britain’s intelligence forces, MI5 and so on, been accused of aiding and abetting in the mistreating and torturing of political prisoners, terror suspects, and those whose politics are diametrically opposed to the government. From the torture of prisoners in Northern Ireland holding centres to the dirty tricks campaign against the legitimate struggles of the miners, anything goes, providing it is supporting the establishment and the various hues of imperialism.
     Last week the United Nations issued a highly critical report condemning Britain for breaching basic human rights and “trying to conceal illegal acts” during what it called counter-terrorism operations.
     Professor Manfred Nowak, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, says he has “been in regular contact with the British Government” to question the role of British intelligence officers about the interrogation of people who were considered to be suspected of terrorist acts and who have been tortured.
     More information has now come to light with the information given by a young British man, Azhar Khan, who was detained in Egypt last July, who says that he was beaten by Egyptian intelligence officers, that he was subjected to electric shocks and was made to stand on one spot for five days. There have been other accusations, in particular by those imprisoned in Guantánamo, of aiding and abetting by British intelligence, but this is the first British national to allege British collusion in Egypt. Azhar Khan says that the interrogators used information that could only have come from the UK.
     Khan and a friend flew to Cairo last July, having told friends that he was going on holiday. He was detained immediately on arrival, and he says he was hooded and handcuffed and his feet shackled throughout the five days that he was tortured, and that he was naked except for the hood over his head.
     Also under scrutiny is the role that Britain is playing in the US policy of rendering suspects to foreign prisons where they can be tortured.
     Not surprisingly, Gordon Brown is resisting an independent inquiry into the conduct of Britain’s security and intelligence officers in the so-called war on terror. He says that the Attorney-General will decide whether the police should be asked to investigate.
     There should be a full independent inquiry into Britain’s role in these matters.

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