Human rights groups and victims abandon ‘toothless’ British torture inquiry

04 August 2011
Human rights groups and victims abandon ‘toothless’ British torture inquiry

Ten leading human rights organisations, along with victims of torture and their lawyers, have today withdrawn from the British Government's Detainee Inquiry on the grounds that it cannot get to the truth about torture.

In a letter to the Inquiry, the groups – including Reprieve, a legal action charity which has represented all British nationals and residents held in Guantanamo Bay – state that that “the process currently proposed does not have the credibility or transparency” to establish “the truth about allegations that UK authorities were involved in the mistreatment of detainees”.

Key shortcomings are the reliance on the Government to determine what material is made public and the failure to ensure meaningful participation by detainees.

In addition, Reprieve has criticised the ‘toothlessness’ of the inquiry, citing its inability to compel witnesses to attend or evidence to be provided.

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2011_08_04_withdrawal_from_inquiry/