Calls for independent judicial inquiry into torture allegations

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has announced that for the time being no one from the security or intelligence services will be charged over British complicity in torture. However, according to the human rights organisation Liberty, the CPS clearly vindicated concerns that British security agencies provided questions for Binyam Mohammed’s interrogation in Morocco between 2002 and 2004.

The CPS has also decided that suspicions about Britain’s involvement in rendition to and torture in Libya are serious enough to warrant an immediate criminal investigation. In addition, there may be further criminal investigations into other aspects of the rendition scandal.

Liberty first expressed concerns in November 2005 that the UK government may be complicit in alleged torture practices if secret “torture flights,” carrying suspects to third countries where they may face torture, transited UK airports. Liberty has always insisted that an inquiry into the allegations must be fair, independent and its findings presented openly and transparently.

When the Evidence Protocol for the ‘detainee inquiry’ was published in July 2011 – a year after the inquiry was announced – it was clear that the crucial final word on whether material could be made public rests not with a Judge but with the Cabinet Secretary, the Government’s chief civil servant. A covering letter received by Liberty also makes clear that the Government proposes that torture victims should not be able to put questions to those allegedly complicit in their abuse - even by way of their legal representatives. In light of this all the non-governmental organisations involved – including Liberty – and the torture victims withdrew their participation from the process.

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, said:

“We of course welcome the criminal investigation into Britain’s suspected involvement with torture under the Gaddafi regime. But the criminal law is not the only way of correcting grave injustices in a great democracy. It is now even more important that the victims, security agencies and wider public benefit from a full and independent judicial inquiry into one of the worst scandals of recent memory.”