Scotland Yard Report: British Citizen Was Tortured in Secret CIA Site

[garybeck]

comment: this is why we need due process for all. and i would like to know, isn't this a violation of international law? is there no accountability, given that British authorities have admitted it happened??

Scotland Yard Report Finds British Citizen Was Tortured in Secret CIA Site

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/01/scotland-yard-report-finds-british-citizen-was-tortured-in-secret-cia-site/251306/



The British government admitted today that a terrorist suspect whose case has drawn international attention was interrogated by U.S. officials and tortured during the two years he was held in Morocco. The findings, resulting from an investigation by England's highest criminal prosecution agency, contradict the obfuscation, stonewalling, and denials by American officials about the case of the suspect, Binyam Mohamed. At one point, the Obama Administration threatened to cut off intelligence sharing with the UK if a British court ordered the release of classified documents in the case.

Mohamed was picked up in Pakistan in 2002, and U.S. officials alleged that he had undergone training at al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and was preparing to detonate a "dirty bomb" in the United States. After 18 months of interrogation in Pakistan, the CIA secretly transported him to Morocco as part of the Bush Administration's "extraordinary rendition program," according to Mohamed's lawyers, a claim that appears to be corroborated by the flight records of the CIA-chartered planes. He was later taken to Guantanamo.

The CIA has never admitted that Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born British citizen, was ever held in Morocco, and has routinely denied all allegations of torture. An American military lawyer who represented Mohamed has said that the torture he endured makes waterboarding "look like child's play." While being interrogated, Mohamed was hanged from a wall with his feet unable to reach the floor, according to his lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, director of Reprieve, a London-based human rights non-profit. Then, naked women were paraded before him. On more than one occasion, Mohamed says, men in black masks and military trousers made cuts on his chest and genitals with a razor.

....................snip......................

After nearly seven harrowing years in American custody, Mohamed was released, without any charges being filed against him, in February 2009. He has returned to Britain, married, and provides updates on his Facebook page.

[gateley]

1. We are barbarians. This sickens me. nt

[garybeck]

4. I don't know whether to scream or cry. n/t

[gateley]

6. I know. Or throw up. nt

[DirkGently]

2. Horrifying and unacceptable. We will never be past this until we prosecute the TORTURERS.

[garybeck]

3. shouldn't this be prosecuted in international court? n/t

[malaise]

5. Never have I seen such lawlessness

on an international scale. This has to stop .

[gratuitous]

7. Oh, you and your "due process"

We KNOW who the bad guys are, and just because one or two fellas get extraordinarily renditioned is no reason we should let our guard down and get all caught up in that quaint document. Eggs, omelettes, etc. Besides, our elected officials are sworn to protect America, not some dumb old Constitution. You know?

[garybeck]

8. where's the "sacrasm" icon?

my experience is that if you're being sarcastic and don't admit it, some people take you seriously. I assume you're being sarcastic.

[gratuitous]

9. I musta left the "sarcasm" icon off

But I trust the relative intelligence of my fellow DUers to recognize my wry, satirical comments and distinguish them from earnest posts. I typically don't spend a lot of time educating the folks who have it sail over their heads.