Court to investigate complaint of British complicity in mistreatment at 'black sites' of Guantanamo detainee Mustafa al-Hawsawi
Mustafa al-Hawsawi spent several years at CIA black sites before being taken to Guantanamo Bay in 2006 (Twitter)
British
intelligence agencies are facing a new investigation over their alleged
complicity in the torture of two Saudi men at CIA “black sites” prior
to their detention at Guantanamo Bay.
In separate legal cases, the two men accuse British intelligence
agencies of conspiring with US officials in a CIA-run “secret detention,
torture and interrogation programme” in the aftermath of the 9/11
al-Qaeda attacks in the US in 2001.
Lawyers representing the two men, Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Abd al-Rahim
al-Nashiri, have filed complaints with the Investigatory Powers
Tribunal, a court that hears allegations of wrongdoing by the UK’s
security services.
In a key judgment,
judges last week unanimously agreed that the tribunal would consider
Hawsawi’s complaint, rejecting arguments by the British government that
it did not have jurisdiction in the case. They said the case raised
issues “of the gravest possible kind”.
“If the allegations are true, it is imperative that that should be
established. If they are not true, it is just as important that that
should be made clear, so as to maintain public confidence,” the judgment
said.Lawyers for Nashiri have called on the tribunal to also consider his
complaint which accused UK agencies of having “aided, abetted,
encouraged, facilitated and/or conspired with the US authorities in his
mistreatment”.
Hawsawi is among five detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, a US
military detention facility in Cuba, who have been charged over their
alleged involvement in the 9/11 al-Qaeda attacks in the United States in
September 2001.
They face potential death sentences if convicted. But none of the
cases have yet gone to trial, in part because of ongoing pre-trial legal
arguments over the interrogation and torture of the five men at
Guantanamo and CIA black sites.
'Credible evidence'
Hawsawi was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in March 2003 alongside
alleged 9/11 ringleader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and handed over to the
CIA. He was then held in a number of black site prisons where he was
interrogated and tortured.
According to a US Senate report
into the CIA torture programme, at one detention facility in
Afghanistan, Hawsawi was subjected to rectal examinations conducted with
such “excessive force” that he was left with severe injuries and
ongoing health issues.
The report noted that Hawsawi was among detainees subjected to other
CIA “enhanced interrogation techniques, despite doubts and questions
surrounding their knowledge of terrorist threats and the location of
senior al-Qaeda leadership”.
US authorities did not acknowledge his detention until after he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in September 2006.
Hawsawi’s complaint to the tribunal said there was “credible
evidence” that British agencies had provided questions or information to
US officials interrogating him, and received information obtained
during interrogations despite knowing he was being subjected to torture.
The tribunal’s judgment was welcomed by Redress, an international
organisation bringing legal cases on behalf of survivors of torture
which is representing Hawsawi.
Redress believes it is the first full investigation to be undertaken by the tribunal relating to the CIA black sites programme.
Chris Esdaile, a legal advisor at Redress, said: “The serious
allegations of collusion in his torture by the UK intelligence services
deserve a proper investigation, and we are pleased that the tribunal has
robustly rejected the UK government’s attempts to prevent the tribunal
from doing so.”
MEE understands the UK government could still appeal against the judgment.
Mounting pressure
Nashiri was captured in the United Arab Emirates in October 2002 and
detained over his alleged involvement in an al-Qaeda attack on the USS
Cole, a US Navy warship, in Aden, Yemen, in 2000.
According to the Senate torture report, Nashiri was repeatedly
subjected to torture and mistreatment despite assessments by
interrogators that he was compliant and cooperative.
These included being placed in a “standing stress position” with his
hands tied above his head for two-and-a-half days, and having a pistol
held to his head and a cordless drill operated near his body while naked
and hooded.
Nashiri’s lawyers argue that he was of “specific interest” to British
intelligence and allege that British authorities allowed a private jet
used by the CIA to render Nashiri from Thailand to Poland in December
2002 to use Luton Airport to refuel.
“There is an irresistible inference that the UK agencies participated
in intelligence sharing in relation to the complainant and were
complicit in his torture and ill-treatment,” Nashiri’s lawyer, Hugh
Southey, said in court documents presented to the tribunal.
The European Court of Human Rights has previously ruled that Poland,
Lithuania and Romania violated the rights of Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah,
another suspected senior al-Qaeda figure, by allowing the CIA to torture
them at black sites on their territory.
An inquiry in 2018 by the British parliament’s Intelligence and
Security Committee found that the UK’s intelligence agencies, MI5 and
MI6, were aware at an early stage that their US counterparts were
torturing and mistreating detainees.
It said the UK agencies had been involved in the rendition and
torture of hundreds of detainees, mostly in cases in which it had
supplied information used in interrogations, and accused government
ministers of turning a blind eye to concerns.
Moazzam Begg, a former British Guantanamo Bay detainee, told MEE the
UK government was facing mounting pressure to come clean about the full
extent of British involvement in the CIA torture and rendition
programme.
He cited a judgment by the Court of Appeal last year which ruled that
Abu Zubaydah could sue the UK government in England over the alleged
passing of questions by British intelligence agencies to his American
interrogators.
“Britain's role in torture is incontrovertible - I know that from my
own ordeal,” said Begg, who is now a senior director at Cage, an
advocacy organisation representing people affected by counter-terrorism
policies.
“But I also know, after personally engaging with government-appointed
judge-led inquiries, parliamentary investigation committees, and even
the Metropolitan Police, the British government will find a way to avoid
accountability at any cost.”
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson told MEE: “It would be inappropriate to comment due to ongoing litigation.”