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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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January 28th,
2010 - Did MI5 Help to Torture Mohamed? |
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Did MI5 Help to Torture
Mohamed? By Paddy McGuffin Morning Star January 28, 2010 New evidence cataloguing the
torture and abuse of Binyam Mohamed by US intelligence services emerged on
Thursday - despite the British government's continued attempts to prevent
details of his case being released. A report published this week
by the UN human rights council gives a damning insight into the practice of
extraordinary rendition and Britain's alleged complicity in the torture of
Binyam Mohamed and others. The report was furiously
rejected by the Foreign Office on Thursday and could be a major source of
further embarrassment to the British state. In an interview with UN
special rapporteurs, Mr Mohamed gives perhaps the most detailed account of
his ordeal to date. He alleges that while being
held in Karachi he was beaten by French and Pakistani intelligence officers
and interrogated by the CIA. These interrogations were
likely to have involved the use of one or more of 10 interrogation techniques
referred to in memos ordered published by the US last year. These included
waterboarding, being slammed into walls, facial slaps and sleep deprivation. It is alleged that an MI6
agent was also involved in this phase of Mr Mohamed's rendition and fed
questions to his torturers. From Karachi Mr Mohamed was
passed into US custody in Islamabad where he says he was "stripped
naked, photographed, anally penetrated, shackled and hooded." He was flown to Morocco
where he was held at three facilities, tied to a wall for days on end, beaten
and threatened with death, electrocution and rape. He was also repeatedly
slashed on the chest and penis with a scalpel and salt solution rubbed into
his wounds. During this period, he was
continually asked questions about Britain which, it is alleged, could only
have come from British intelligence sources. The allegations add further
weight to claims that Britain was at the very least complicit in the
kidnapping, detention and torture of its own citizens. A spokeswoman for Reprieve,
which has campaigned on Mr Mohamed's behalf, told the Morning Star:
"Despite our government's attempts to suppress Binyam Mohamed's story,
details have been leaking out over many years now, each more disturbing than
the last. "It is simply
ridiculous that the government is still insisting on secrecy when so much of
this information is already in the public domain." Mr Mohamed is currently
challenging the government over its refusal to allow the disclosure of
information regarding his torture by the CIA. Legal representatives for Mr
Mohamed, who was finally released from Guantanamo in February last year, have
accused the government of attempting to conceal potentially embarrassing
material by claiming disclosure would damage intelligence sharing with the
US. In November, this argument
was rejected by the High Court on the grounds that much of the disputed
information, contained in seven paragraphs of the court's fifth judgement on
the case, was already in the public domain. The government has appealed
the decision and a Court of Appeal ruling is expected within days. External link: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/86169 |