The Prime Minister is committed to ensuring that the serious allegations made about the UK’s past role with regard to the treatment of detainees held by other countries, and in respect of the illegal transfer of detainees from one country to another, are examined thoroughly and lessons are learned. The Government stands firmly against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. We do not condone it, nor do we ask others to do it on our behalf.
In August, following the publication of the terms of reference and protocol, a number of NGOs and lawyers representing former Guantanamo Bay detainees announced that they would not participate in the Gibson Inquiry. The Foreign Secretary particularly values the knowledge and expertise of the NGOs on detainee issues, and was therefore disappointed by this decision.
On 12 January, the Metropolitan Police Service announced further police investigations of new allegations of ill-treatment. The Government therefore decided to bring the work of the Gibson Inquiry to a conclusion, as there appeared no prospect of it being able to start without considerable further delay. Sir Peter Gibson agreed that the inquiry would provide the Government with a report on its preparatory work to date, highlighting particular themes or issues which might be the subject of further examination. The Government intends that as much of this report as possible will be made public.
The Government proposes to hold an independent judge-led inquiry into these issues, once all police investigations have concluded, to establish the full facts and draw a line under these matters. The Foreign Secretary is clear that consideration of such sensitive information will always require a fine balance to be struck between public scrutiny and national security.
Follow new comments on this item by RSS
It is encouraging that the Government is attempting to investigate the circumstances of what have been very shocking revelations about recent events concerning mistreatment of detainees. It’s reassuring that concern about this continues and will be addressed further.
I typed in illegal deportation and I got detainees. Does that mean that the Chagossians who are still illegally detained all over the world in the unrelenting hand of poverty qualifies, since they were illegally deported from there own country after killing their family pets and threatening to do the same to them. Does it matter that it was done with the clandestine co-operation of the US government in the bilateral agreement. This has been a direct violation of human rights to an Allied state and part of the then British umbrella. Does this site exists because of a vein attempt to appease ones guilt.
Interesting points about the Chagossians; they were deported but not detained so different circumstances. From various recent news items it doesn’t seem they are being held prisoner in any way so much as not being able to return to their home country. There are many instances in history where people who got in the way were just removed from their homeland, seems to be a common trend. I just returned to this topic thinking about the detainee lawyers and NGOs refusing to cooperate with the Gibson Inquiry because they didn’t think it was going to be transparent enough. Without expert knowledge on the issues my instinctive feeling is that was a mistake because it would have been better to have the Inquiry with their participation and they could have raised concerns when and if they arose about what was being disclosed, rather than to block it. There is clearly a need to have a very thorough investigation of the behaviour of Ministers and others. I can understand there might have been scepticism from some that the block on certain information being released was an attempt to prevent facts from being proven. Some are already public; we know that a Memo was leaked to newspapers, think it was last year, and that it contained a note from A Blair, then P.M., stating that he was concerned the Americans were using torture; however while it appeared clear from the wording that on a personal level he didn’t like it, he did nothing to oppose it. He also did nothing to represent the interests of the Guantanamo detainees and it was known that they were being mistreated. There were also very serious questionmarks over the people being by the US sent to other countries for more severe torture. A lot is already in the public domain and while certain aspects of intelligence work can’t for security reasons be made public, any complicity or involvement of any kind by MI6 and ministers should be public.
Ageed Isobel there are differences. You also realise that the similarities in effect are stark. These were people who have always been loyal to the British and previous to the French. They never held a gun to anyones heads, they never strapped bombs on themselves to create mayhem, they did not hestitate when giving their young men to the many wars that the British were in. They in essence were a peaceful people betrayed by the machinations and treachery of international politics. Poverty can be concidered as the four walls of a cell. Poverty can also be concidered a weapon which is put to ones head. Poverty changes everything about you.