Legal challenge over interrogation

[cory777]

Source: Press Association

Lawyers for Iraqis who say they were abused by British troops have issued judicial review proceedings against the Government over new guidelines on interrogating suspects overseas.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced fresh guidance in July intended to ensure that UK intelligence officers and military personnel are not involved or complicit in the torture of detainees held by foreign powers.

But lawyers representing 34 Iraqis who claim they were mistreated by British forces after the 2003 invasion which overthrew Saddam Hussein said the guidelines "explicitly permit" the hooding of prisoners.

Launching a legal challenge, they pointed to the case of Iraqi hotel receptionist Baha Mousa, 26, who was hooded for a total of nearly 24 hours before his death in UK military custody in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5j4C7IbbFujdcj4EK_RUwpR5tA8sQ

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[dipsydoodle]

1. For further details of July 6th date mentioned in link

see here : New interrogation policy faces early legal challenge

The government's interrogation guidelines for intelligence officers are facing their first legal challenge, less than a week after they were published as part of David Cameron's attempt to signal a break with the counter-terrorism practices of the Labour administration.

Lawyers representing dozens of Iraqi civilians who were detained and allegedly mistreated by British troops are threatening to begin judicial review proceedings because the policy fails to outlaw the practice of hooding.

The guidelines, which govern the conduct of MI5 and MI6 officers and members of the military when questioning detainees held overseas, were published last week at the same time as the prime minister announced an inquiry into the UK's role in torture and rendition since 2001. They distinguish between torture and examples of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and say that only a serious risk of the latter should force British personnel to abandon an interrogation.

Most of the individuals suing the government over its role in their mistreatment during the so-called war on terror were hooded at times, while large numbers of Iraqi civilians say they were routinely hooded while being questioned. One detainee, Baha Mousa, died after being hooded and beaten by British troops.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/jul/12/interrogation-policy-facing-legal-challenge

[TheMadMonk]

2. Hooding asside, IIRC, the new guidelines still allow turning over prisoners...

...to regimes with, a record of employing harsh interrogation techniques. The Brittish forces just have to receice assurances that such techniques won't be used on those prisoners they hand over.

Second verse. Same as the first.

I have a strong suspicion that a good many Western administrations learn, as each takes power, just how thouroughly their nations and others have been compromised. They litterally don't dare take proper action against those likes of Wall Street, the Military Industrial Complex, and prior administrations as obviously corrupt as Bush/Blair's. It's why even condemnation of alligned nations for each other is so muted these days. Poke too hard and the entire house of cards comes tumbling down.