dreamdancer 0 #1 March 26, 2009 there is the strong possibility that blair knew of, and approved of, this torture QuoteFormer Guantánamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed has welcomed the announcement that the Metropolitan police have been called in to investigate whether MI5 agents were complicit in his torture, and promised to co-operate with the inquiry. The attorney general, Lady Scotland, said in a written statement today that she had given the allegations of possible criminal wrongdoing "very serious consideration" and felt there were sufficient grounds to launch a criminal investigation. But she stopped short of conceding a full judicial inquiry, which many critics have demanded. Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born UK resident, said on his release in February that he had been "tortured in medieval ways" since his detention in 2002. "I'm very pleased that there's going to be an independent investigation," he told the Guardian today. "I remain concerned that the investigations shouldn't just focus on the small people and that one agent shouldn't be the scapegoat for what was a government policy. I understand that the investigation will include the people directly responsible for the torture, the Americans, and this is obviously very important." http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/26/binyam-mohamed-torture-solicitor-generalstay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamdancer 0 #2 March 28, 2009 more coming out of the woodwork... QuoteThe attorney general is to be asked to investigate two more cases of alleged MI5 complicity in torture of men detained in Pakistan. Lawyers representing Rangzieb Ahmed and Salahuddin Amin are to ask Lady Scotland to consider possible criminal wrongdoing. The move comes after Scotland called in the Metropolitan police to investigate allegations that MI5 colluded in the torture of Binyam Mohamed, who was held for almost seven years in Pakistan, Morocco, Afghanistan, and finally Guantánamo. There are also reports that MI5 and MI6 have admitted there are other cases in which their officers raised concerns about the possible torture of detainees in US custody in Afghanistan during the conflict that followed the 9/11 attacks. Citing "security sources", today's Daily Telegraph reports that "senior officials in both MI5 and MI6 have reviewed their files and fear that 15 similar cases could also lead to police investigations". However, lawyers for British citizens held in Pakistan and Egypt, and allegedly tortured, say the official policy, known to have been devised to allow UK intelligence officers to interrogate detainees shortly after 9/11, was later employed to facilitate the torture of people held during British-led counter-terrorism operations. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/28/mi5-binyam-mohamed-torture-casestay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamdancer 0 #3 April 3, 2009 QuoteClive Stafford Smith, director of legal charity Reprieve, and his colleague Ahmed Ghappour have been summoned to appear before a Washington court on May 11 after a complaint was made by the privilege review team. Stafford Smith had written to the president after judges in the UK ruled against the release of U.S. evidence detailing Mohamed's alleged torture at Guantánamo. The letter asked the president to reconsider the U.S. position and urged him to release the evidence into the public domain. He attached a memo summarizing the case because his US security clearance gives him access to the classified material. In order to comply with classification guidelines, the memo did not identify individual officers by name or specify locations of the abuse. He and Gappour submitted the memo to the privilege team for clearance but the memo was redacted to just the title, leaving the president unable to read it. Stafford Smith included the redacted copy of the memo in his letter to illustrate the extent to which it had been censored. He described it as a "bizarre reality." "You, as commander in chief, are being denied access to material that would help prove that crimes have been committed by U.S. personnel. This decision is being made by the very people who you command." The privilege team argue that by releasing the redacted memo Reprieve has breached the rules that govern Guantánamo lawyers and have made a complaint to the court of "unprofessional conduct". Stafford Smith described their actions as intimidation, saying the complaint "doesn't even specify the rule supposedly breached." http://www.alternet.org/rights/134847/famed_gitmo_lawyer_facing_six_months_in_prison_for_writing_letter_to_obama_detailing_torture_of_client/stay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
