UNHRC - UK government’s illegal ‘war on terror’
UN report reveals UK complicity in rendition and torture
On 27 January, the UN confirmed the UK Government’s complicity in rendition and torture, the 292-page report, a Joint study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of countering terrorism, was jointly compiled by UN special rapporteurs and working groups in the fields of human rights, torture, arbitrary detention and forced disappearance.
The UN Human Rights Council ‘Joint Study_Secret Detention In The Context Of Countering Terrorism’ states that secret detention and enforced disappearance can be traced back at least to ‘the Nacht und Nebel Erlaß of the Nazi Germany, the night and fog decree, according to which suspected resistance movement members could be arrested in occupied Europe and secretly transferred to Germany “under cover of night”.’
In the context of countering terrorism post-9/11, the report confirms that the UK intelligence services were aware of the US illegal rendition programme in 2002 but continued to co-operate with it for a further two years, handing over terrorist suspects to US custody until 2004.
The UN experts record their suspicions that detainees have been held in ‘proxy detention’ on behalf of the UK in other countries. They also confirm that the UK was complicit in the practice of secret detention in the cases of several individuals, including Binyam Mohamed, Salahuddin Amin, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Rangzieb Ahmed and Rashid Rauf, by sending questions to the detaining state or by soliciting or receiving information from the men while they were held in secret detention.
The report looks at the the case of Azhar Khan, a British national held in Cairo for five days in 2008 and tortured, who was questioned at one point by an English speaker about his life in the UK, and observe that UK intelligence agencies lack the oversight that would prevent crimes like complicity in torture from recurring in the future.
The UN experts recommend that ‘to ensure accountability in intelligence co-operation, truly independent intelligence review and oversight mechanisms should be established … [which] should have access to any information, including sensitive information.’
Download a copy of the UN report Joint study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of countering terrorism here (pdf file, 916kb)