By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
LONDON, United Kingdom – In a report published on Friday May 14, Human Rights Watch criticized the United Kingdom’s treatment of terrorists and pressed for the new coalition government to undertake a judicial inquiry to uncover the truth about such abusive practices and officially break from past policies of torture and rendition.
New York-based Human Rights Watch said that such an inquiry and break from past policies is necessary to meet the UK’s domestic and international legal obligations and restore the UK’s reputation as a champion of human rights in the global community.
Just last week, the Tories and Liberal Democrats took power by forming a coalition in the United Kingdom, ending over a decade of Labor Party rule. Both parties ran on promises to end abusive counter-terrorism tactics, including kidnapping and torturing terrorist suspects, including several UK nationals.
Despite these promises, many believe that the new government will continue to allow M15 and M16 to work with overseas intelligence agencies to facilitate torture and illegal rendition for those alleged of terrorist activities.
The London director of Human Rights Watch, Tom Porteous, pressed the new government to end the impunity by “mak[ing] clean break with the previous government’s abusive approach to counterterrorism.”
Equally importantly, Mr. Porteous said a judicial inquiry to uncover the illegal techniques used by M15 and M16 during Labor rule would “strengthen the UK’s role in bringing to justice those responsible for international crimes at home and abroad.”
The inquiry, according to the Human Rights Watch report, should focus on identifying the members of the Labor Party government who specifically authorized torture and other illegal actions taken against terrorist suspects. The inquiry would also ideally uncover those M15 and M16 officers who tortured after being authorized by government officials.
While the new government has made public statements indicating its willingness to undertaken an inquiry into the actions, Tories and Liberal Democrats are extremely unlikely to prosecute M15 and M16 officers that undertook actions that government lawyers had deemed legal under UK law.
For more information, please see:
COMMON DREAMS – New Government Should Open Inquiry Into Allegations of Complicity and Torture – 14 May 2010
GUARDIAN – Human Rights Watch calls for inquiry into Britain’s role in torture – 14 May 2010
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH – UK: Make Rights a Priority at Home and Abroad – 14 May 2010
