The very same Metropolitan Police that killed Charles De Menezes, and whose officers walked away from the killing free men, is to investigate whether MI5 was complicit in the torture of Binyam Mohamed. To say we don't have much faith in this investigation getting to the truth, or having any interest in doing so, would be an understatement. The Metropolitan police commissioner has been asked to investigate whether MI5 agents were complicit in the torture of the former Guantánamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed, the attorney general, Lady Scotland, said in a written statement (pdf) today. In an unprecedented announcement, Scotland said she had given the allegations of possible criminal wrongdoing "very serious consideration" and had consulted the director of public prosecutions. But she stopped short of conceding a full judicial inquiry, which many critics have demanded. more

UK prime minister Brown announced in Parliament today that rules banning torture are to be published and that the government will be reviewing "any developments and relevant information", which is clearly a reference to the cases of Binyam Mohamed and Kazhar Khan in whose torture British intelligence agencies colluded. Given that this review comes from the same government that brought us an illegal war in Iraq and the De Menezes shooting of an innocent man on the London Underground, for which no-one has been brought to account, you can appreciate it if we are not filled with confidence that this will bring the UK's role in rendition and torture to an end. Brown said he was making the move to "to protect the reputation of our security and intelligence services". It's a bit late for that.

The Egyptian torturers' tools of the trade Egypt has reopened its Rafah border for two days to enable students and the sick to cross, a security official has told AFP . "The border has opened for two days to allow the passage of Palestinian students and the sick who are stuck on the Egyptian side," the border official said, asking not to be named. "Palestinian patients who finished their treatment at Egyptian hospitals and other humanitarian cases will be allowed to return back home," Egypt's official MENA news agency quoted Palestinian embassy. What can you say about the rotten regime in Egypt except that they are traitors to the Palestinian cause and a bunch of torturers - with a little help from British intelligence, as revealed in the case of Binyam Mohamed and now also Kazhar Khan. There were more revelations this week about the British government’s complicity in the torture of suspects as part of the “war on terror”. Azhar Khan, a 26 year old from Slo...

So when will Great Britian get back to doing its own torturing instead of using third parties. This news comes hot n the heels of what we already know happened to Binyam at the behest of those oh so nice public school boys over at MI6: Azhar Khan, a 26-year-old who has seen a number of friends jailed for terrorist offences, says Egyptian intelligence officers who detained him when he flew into the country last July forced him to stand on the same spot for five days, with little rest, while beating him and subjecting him to electric shocks. Throughout this time, he says, he was asked detailed questions about his friends and associates in the UK. more

Lurid headlines appeared in some papers yesterday regurgitating a story that was placed in the media by US intelligence agencies. The story claimed that an ex-prisoner of the the Guantanamo torture camp in Cuba is now a leading Taliban commander in Afghanistan, responsible for the change in tactics that has seen their effectiveness increase markedly against occupying troops - especially British troops in the south of the country. I find the timing of this story too good to be true on the part of the UK government, coinciding as it does with the revelations about UK collusion in torture at Guantanamo, Morocco and Pakistan by recently released detainee, Binyam Mohamed. Conveniently for the authorities it is impossible to cross reference any sources to verify the veracity of their claims. The man, who has been named as Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, was released into the custody of the Afghan government in December 2007 and subsequently released. According to US intelligence the man has since c...

The United Nations Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Martin Scheinin, has accused the UK of condoning torture. Is anyone going to be brought to justice in the British government for these crimes? Richard Norton-Taylor writes in the Guardian : Britain has been condemned in a highly critical United Nations report for breaching basic human rights and "trying to conceal illegal acts" in the fight against terrorism. The report is sharply critical of British co-operation in the transfer of detainees to places where they are likely to be tortured as part of the US rendition programme. The report accuses British intelligence officers of interviewing detainees held incommunicado in Pakistan in "so-called safe houses where they were being tortured". It adds that Britain, with a number of countries, has sent interrogators to Guantánamo Bay in a further example of what it says ...

Can't wait to hear how UK foreign secretary Miliband tries to explain this one. From the Guardian Binyam Mohamed, a former UK resident who is flying home after four years of incarceration at Guantánamo Bay, today accused Britain of involvement in his alleged torture . "I have to say, more in sadness than in anger, that many have been complicit in my own horrors over the past seven years," he said in a statement his lawyers released shortly before the chartered plane bringing him back from the US detention camp in Cuba was due to land at RAF Northolt, near London. "For myself, the very worst moment came when I realised in Morocco that the people who were torturing me were receiving questions and materials from British intelligence," he said. "I have met with British intelligence in Pakistan. I had been open with them. Yet the very people who I had hoped would come to my rescue I later realised had allied themselves with my abusers. "I am not asking for ...

What we all suspected was the case - UK is up to its neck in torturing 'terrorist' suspects according to Human Rights Watch. Are the criminals that ordered this going to go to prison? No, unless we bring enormous pressure to bear; Tony Blair is now a 'peace envoy' in the Middle East. UK has of course had plenty of places to practise its torture techniques from the old days of Empire and not so old days in the north of Ireland. From the Guardian/Observer A shocking new report alleges widespread complicity between British security agents and their Pakistani counterparts who have routinely engaged in the torture of suspects. In the study, which will be published next month by the civil liberties group Human Rights Watch, at least 10 Britons are identified who have been allegedly tortured in Pakistan and subsequently questioned by UK intelligence officials. It warns that more British cases may surface and that the issue of Pakistani terrorism suspects interrogated by Britis...

Binyam Mohamed will return to the from Guantanamo witin the week the US and British governments have agreed. Binyam was tortured in Pakistan and Morocco on the instruction of of the UK and US governments. The US accused him plotting to 'attack the US with a radioactive bomb'. Sound fanciful to you? It was and is. Binyam's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, does 'not expect' him to be detained on arrival in the UK. Let's hope not as he is innocent. [update 22:06 - Binyam is to be released without trial] Binyam is a British resident who came to the UK in 1994 as a refugee from Ethiopia and sought political asylum. He was kidnapped (otherwise known as 'extraordinary rendition') in 2001 while in Pakistan. He has been on hunger strike at the Guantanamo torture centre and was being force fed by the US military. Binyam was a convert to Islam and went to Afghanistan to see what an islamic state might look like. He was travelling back to the UK when he was kidnapped ...

- Security services 'convoy plot' falling apart - British government directed torture - Britain in 'state of fear ' Well the plot seems to be unraveling rather quickly - the police plot that is. Again, as predicted on this blog they have not found anything in the vehicles, and no doubt we will have the same result for the five house searches in Burnley. As ex-spy chief Rimington points out - in a wonderfully apt juxtaposition at the BBC this morning - the government is creating a 'state of fear' with the terror laws. What she didn't say is that this 'convoy plot' is just one more example of this government's policy of fear mongering. It's also been suggested that the the reason for the seizure was that the humanitarian aid included computers. So it is now also a crime to be a Muslim or anti-war activist while in charge of a vehicle and a computer. Hopefully the three people being held in custody are released soon. If any of them are charged ...

Mr Mohamed's brother, Dr Benhur Mohamed, said he had written to Mr Miliband asking him to help his brother. Dr Mohamed said it was "very cruel" of him not to reply. Speaking to the BBC, Dr Mohamed said he believed Mr Miliband had failed to protect his brother's human rights. "I did write to Mr Miliband, but I didn't get any answer from him," he said. "I was truly begging him to do something about Binyam, that was my plea, but I didn't hear anything. "I feel very sad. I feel betrayed. It's very cruel from a person who is elected by the people to protect humanity and freedom and the rule of law." Dr Mohamed said his brother was a "quiet" and "helpful" person. "He is very supportive and very considerate. He is not the kind of person who would want to hurt anybody," he said.

According to two high court judges [Justices Thomas and Lloyd Jones] 'grave threats' were made by the US against the British Judiciary and state in general. The US said joint intelligence cooperation would be in danger - and specifically that this would include information related to national security. BBC TV's flagship Newsnight programme asks if British court report was re-written by Washington. Binyam Mohamed, a British resident and an innocent man, is still languishing in Guantanamo Bay. Of the over 500 people released so far from the torture camp only three, according to the security services, have been 'involved' in 'terror related activities'. From the BBC 'No torture pressure' - Miliband David Miliband said the UK government would not authorise torture David Miliband has disputed claims by two judges that the US threatened to stop sharing intelligence with the UK over an alleged torture case. In a ruling, the judges said the US had forced the...