Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/612/8847
From The Socialist newspaper, 17 February 2010
Ministers and MI5 colluded in the cover-up of torture
FOLLOWING HIS detention by the Pakistani secret service in 2002 and his sale to the US for a bounty of $5,000, Binyam Mohamed lived a shadow existence, deprived of his basic human rights. Following interrogations where he was deprived of sleep, hooded and shackled he was rendered to Morocco where his torture intensified.
Ken Douglas
He was then transferred to the "Dark Prison" in Kabul and endured further torture before being held for five years at Bagram air base in Afghanistan and then Guantanamo Bay. He was then released without charge or trial.
Now - after two years of court action, numerous evasions by the security services and a succession of government ministers, including Kim Howells, David Miliband and Alan Johnson, attempting to intimidate the judiciary - the second most senior judge in the country, Lord Neuberger, has accused MI5 of a "culture of suppression" and a "worrying disregard for the truth" over this case. He subsequently withdrew these comments following pressure from the government's barrister but has since said that he regrets doing so.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson has attacked the "ludicrous lies" being told about MI5 despite the courts turning up 42 different documents showing that the security services were aware of Binyam Mohamed's treatment and supplied 70 questions to his interrogators.
Head of MI5 Jonathan Evans went even further and in an unprecedented public intervention implied that those who supported this case were aiding "our enemies" who will use "propaganda and campaigns to undermine our will and ability to confront them."
The picture being painted, as with the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, is of Labour government ministers colluding with state security forces and avoiding any democratic checks as they followed the lead of the right-wing neo-conservative Bush and his cabal.
Howells, Miliband and Johnson now seek to protect their own careers from the accusation that they were complicit in the torture of an innocent man; moreover there are a further 13 cases where former terror suspects are suing the government for alleged torture.
The strategy of blatant cover-ups is a dangerous one however for the ruling class - the Financial Times points out that they run the risk of undermining the British public's trust in the intelligence services.
This is at a time when the legitimacy of the capitalist system itself is in question due to the unfolding of the banking and financial crisis and the political system has just survived the scandal over MPs' expenses.
In the fallout from this case an MI5 officer may even be tossed to the lions in an attempt to divert attention from the role of the politicians. However, in the absence of an organised voice for working-class people, of a new mass workers' party, these careerist, unprincipled politicians will continue to trample on our human rights.
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In The Socialist 17 February 2010:
Socialist Party campaigns
Nominate Roger Bannister: Council workers need a fighting union
Notts Tories attack the vulnerable
Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
TUSC to fight cuts in Spelthorne
Socialist Party news and analysis
New health inequality report reveals widening class divide
Ministers and MI5 colluded in the cover-up of torture
Workplace analysis
The construction industry blacklist: Paltry punishment for attacks on workers
Oppose university cuts - defend jobs
Socialist Students
Sussex student union elections: Support for socialist campaigners
Youth fight for jobs
Youth Fight for Jobs: Leeds march for jobs and education
Socialist Party feature
Wales: New challenges for socialists
Celebrate May Day this year with The Socialist
International socialist news and analysis
Greece: Massive public sector workers' strike against savage austerity plans
Capitalist crisis threatens the eurozone project
Winter Olympics: Shortage of snow but no shortage of debts?
Protests as Canada's Tories suspend parliament
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