Only the most sincere amongst us will admit that it is much easier to proffer advice than it is to adhere to one’s own advice. The age old adage has never been as apt as at present following claims of torture and the illegal “renditioning” of terror suspects by two of the world’s superpowers, the United States of America and Britain.
Both countries, purveyors of human rights standards, have never shied away from levelling criticisms at “third world countries” or even at fellow superpowers like China and Russia when it is perceived that human rights standards have not been adhered to. Therefore, the discovery of intelligence files by journalists and Human Rights Watch officials which revealed a close co-operation between Libya, UK and US authorities in “renditioning” terror suspects is particularly damaging to the credibility of the British and American human rights credentials.
The papers, which were discovered in the offices of Moussa Koussa, Libya’s Head of Intelligence Services under the Gaddafi-led government, reveals that America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, the MI6 together “rendered” terror suspects to Libya on numerous occasions. The individuals were then allegedly subjected to acts of torture. The find of the huge cache of documents and its contents contradict previous denials issued by both governments denying involvement in the “renditioning” of terror suspects.
Rendition
Rendition involves the abduction and transfer of individuals from one jurisdiction to another and beyond the legal protection of the transferor state. If the allegations are substantiated, the actions of Britain and America will have contravened Article 3 of the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which prohibits State parties from “expelling, returning or extraditing a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture”. Notably, the Convention was ratified by the UK on 8th December 1988 and the USA on 21st October 1994.
The evidence against the UK and USA is certainly stacking up. On 5th May 2011, the BBC reported in an article titled “Torture Inquiry to Examine UK-Libya Intelligence Links”, that the former Libya Foreign Minister under Gaddafi, Abdelati Obeidi had asserted that the MI6 was operational in Libya until February 2011. In addition, Mr Abdel Hakim Belhaj, a commander of anti-government forces in Tripoli and former terror suspect revealed that he was captured by the US in Bangkok, Thailand and taken to Libya by both the CIA and MI6 in 2004 where he was tortured. At present, the High Court is still seised of a case brought by Omar Awadh Omar who alleges that he was “rendered” to Uganda in 2010 after being kidnapped in Kenya. In his claim, Mr Awadh alleges that he suffered physical abuse from British and American interrogators. He alleges that he was threatened, beaten, punched and slapped during the course of the interrogation.
The Baha Mousa Inquiry
These disturbing reports come on the heels of “The Report of the Baha Mousa Inquiry” released on 8th September 2011 which investigated the assault of detainees by UK soldiers guarding them. Baha Mousa was an Iraqi man who was tortured and beaten to death in British Army custody in Basra, Iraq in September 2003. The Inquiry surmised that the victims of the 1st Battalion The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment (1QLR) suffered an “appalling episode of serious gratuitous violence”. The subsequent post-mortem found that Baha Mousa had sustained 93 external injuries in addition to internal injuries including fractured ribs.
The incidents highlighted above can hardly be said to be the isolated incidents the UK and USA would have us believe. Amnesty International’s 2010 Report, “Open Secret: Mounting Evidence of Europe’s Complicity in Rendition and Secret Detention”, revealed that several European countries including Italy, Germany, Poland and others had co-operated in the rendition of terror suspects. It has also been difficult to verify whether these flights transporting individuals to 2nd or indeed 3rd States for the purpose of circumventing legislation against torture have ceased. Worryingly, Phil Shiner, the lawyer representing the family of Baha Mousa, asserts that the actions which led to the deaths of Baha Mousa are not a one-off as claimed by the UK military authorities. In an article published in The Guardian on 8th September 2011 and titled “Baha Mousa: Killed in the Shadows”, Phil Shiner asserts that he also acts for about 151 Iraqis who were tortured and abused in 14 different UK Army facilities and by different battle groups. The acts of torture perpetrated on these individuals were said to include mock executions, threats of rape, sleep deprivation, temperature manipulation and solitary confinement for long periods of time.
Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay
The furore arising from the Abu Ghraib prison and Guantanamo Bay Detention camp episodes have hardly been extinguished before the recent spate of rendition and torture scandals erupted. One recalls the horrid reports of the many human rights violations including torture, rape and sexual abuse meted out by the US and UK Armies to prisoners held in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In addition, it is impossible to forget the lurid reports of torture, beating and poor prisoner conditions in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp which has been used since 2002 to hold detainees from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is also significant that the detention camp still remains open despite President Obama’s pre-election promise to close it if he assumes the post of President of the USA. Also, although the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has ordered an inquiry into “the relations between the British and Libyan services”, the fact that 14 or so soldiers involved in the torture of Baha Mousa and other Iraqis are still serving is ammunition enough for those who decry the hypocrisy of the West. It is also significant to mention that the inquiry found that some senior officers were aware of the abuses. This revelation may suggest that the attitudes displayed by the soldiers may be more deep rooted within the military institution than previously thought.
The Future
The flagrant violation of international human rights laws and the Geneva Convention against Torture and Inhuman Treatment by the US and UK hardly sets an example to countries who have been at the receiving end of “lectures” delivered by leaders of the so called “first world”. Undoubtedly, half-hearted attempts via inquiries and investigations sanctioned to address allegations of torture, rendition and other human rights abuses will be seen by countries where these illegal practices take place as legitimising the actions. After all, if it is acceptable by the UK and USA, why should it not be the same for the likes of Bahrain, Pakistan, Uganda et al. The danger however is that these acts of torture, if left unchecked, will become an even more effective recruiting tool for extremists than the speeches and teachings of the leaders of these groups.
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