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 Human Rights Watch calls for inquiry into Britain's role in torture
The coalition government should restore the UK's reputation on human rights by setting up a judicial inquiry to examine the country's role in torture and rendition, Human Rights Watch said today.
The organisation hailed the Human Rights Act, which the Liberal Democrats support but the Tories have pledged to abolish. It said repeal "would signal that the UK was turning its back on human rights" and called for a review of counterterrorism laws and policies.
Pointing out that the Lib Dems and several senior Tories have called for a judicial inquiry, HRW said the coalition could restore Britain's reputation as a champion of human rights. It added: "Allegations of complicity by UK intelligence services in the kidnapping and torture of terrorism suspects, including UK nationals, have badly damaged the UK's reputation as a nation that respects human rights."
Tom Porteous, the New York-based NGO's London director, said: "The two parties in government have indicated they are in substantial agreement on civil liberties. They should translate that into practice by making a clean break with the previous government's abusive approach to counterterrorism and by strengthening the UK's role in bringing to justice those responsible for international crimes at home and abroad.
"An abusive approach to counterterrorism is also a counterproductive approach. There's an urgent need to open a thorough and rapid judicial inquiry into these allegations of torture. Anyone found responsible for wrongdoing should be held accountable."
MI5 says its work with overseas intelligence agencies that use torture has thwarted many terrorist plots since 9/11 and saved British lives. Its director general, Jonathan Evans, has said the agency "would have been derelict in [its] duty" if it had failed to do this.However, there have been questions not only about the morality but about the legality, in British and international law, of the manner in which MI5 and MI6 made use of such overseas agencies. Those calling for an inquiry believe it should identify the ministers of the Labour government who authorised what may have amounted to criminal policies, and then suggest lessons that can be learned.
HRW is far from alone in calling for such an inquiry: parliament's joint committee on human rights, Amnesty International, Liberty, Lord Goldsmith, the former attorney general, Lord Carlile of Berriew, the government's independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, and Sir Ken Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, have all said an inquiry is needed.
Many senior members of both coalition parties agree, and are anxious to draw a line under the UK's involvement in torture and rendition, and bring to an end the growing number of civil claims being brought against the MI5, MI6, the Home Office and the Foreign Office on behalf of the alleged victims. They are also concerned at the possibility of MI5 and MI6 officers facing prosecution after conducting themselves in a manner that was authorised by government ministers.
However, while the Lib Dems adopted a resolution calling for an inquiry at their last conference, William Hague, the foreign secretary, has said in the past only that he would not rule out such an inquiry.
Meanwhile, new cases of alleged British complicity in torture are emerging. Lawyers representing a British businessman being held in Bangladesh have accused MI5 of being involved in his ill-treatment and threatened legal action against the new government.
As well as calling for a judicial inquiry into torture and calling on the coalition government to affirm its support for the Human Rights Act, HRW said ministers should reconsider the policy under which terrorism suspects can be deported to countries where they risk being tortured, and reaffirm support for the international criminal court, which it described as one of the Labour government's achievements.
(2010-05-14 / guardian.co.uk)
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