Hague demands Brown takes action over torture allegations

William Hague has written to the Prime Minister to ask what action he will take in response to the Joint Committee Report on allegations of British complicity in torture.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary stressed the Committee’s findings are “extremely serious”, and made clear, “We need to know whether the allegations of UK complicity contained in the report are being examined.”

He asked the Prime Minister whether he will refer any of the new allegations in the report to the Attorney General, who earlier this year launched a police investigation into allegations about the torture of Binyam Mohamed.

And he called on the Prime Minister to say whether the Attorney General is considering any additional cases of alleged UK complicity in torture.

Full text of letter from William Hague to Gordon Brown:

Dear Prime Minister,

I write to ask whether you plan to instruct the Attorney General to consider any of the allegations of UK complicity in torture which are contained in the report released today by the House of Lords and House of Commons Joint Committee on Human Rights. (HL Paper 152 HC 230 of 4^th August 2009).

In your written statement to the House of Commons of 18^th March on allegations of UK complicity in the torture of detainees overseas, you said that “if any cases of potential criminal wrongdoing come to light, the Government will refer them to the Attorney-General to consider whether there is a basis for inviting the police to conduct a criminal investigation.” (18 Mar 2009 : Column 55WS)

I understand that since March this year the Metropolitan police have been investigating the allegations about one such detainee, Mr Binyam Mohamed, at the behest of the Attorney General. (26 Mar 2009 : Column WS51).

I write to request that you clarify as a matter of urgency whether you intend to instruct the Attorney General to consider any additional allegations of UK complicity in the light of the Joint Committee report, which documents allegations of UK complicity in torture in respect of detainees held in Pakistan, Egypt, and Guantanamo Bay, and in the case of Uzbekistan, raises concerns about the receipt of information which may have been obtained through torture?

Can you confirm whether any of these allegations are already being examined by the Attorney General?

The Attorney General has declined in the past to clarify whether she is considering any additional cases, replying to my colleague Baroness Neville Jones that she “do[es] not propose to give a running commentary on consideration of the matter.” (7 May 2009 : Column WA139)

However does the public not have a right to know whether the Attorney General is considering any additional allegations? Is this clarity not important to reassure the public that these issues are being fully investigated in a wide-ranging fashion?

Therefore I hope that in response to this letter you will urgently clarify whether you intend to refer any of the allegations of complicity in torture contained in the Joint Committee report to the Attorney General, as well as how many such cases the Attorney General is currently considering.

BLAIR AS EU PRESIDENT: DIVISIVE AND DAMAGING

SNP MEP COMMENTS ON REMARKS BY KINNOCK

SNP MEP and party president Ian Hudghton has warned that, by putting Tony Blair forward for the job of European President, the UK Government risked ‘dividing and damaging’ the EU institutions.

Commenting, Mr Hudghton said:

"If Mrs Kinnock's comments were accurate, then the UK Government is, in my view, making a huge mistake by nominating Tony Blair for this job.

"He will never be able to escape his reputation as a warmonger, nor his role in the illegal invasion of Iraq. That alone should disqualify him from a position like this, which, if created, needs to be occupied by a unifying figure. Putting forward Tony Blair for this job would be divisive and damaging for the EU institutions.

"As this post has not actually been created yet, it's more than a little presumptuous for Mrs Kinnock to be making these remarks. The SNP is opposed to the Lisbon Treaty and want the Scottish people to get a chance to have their say in a referendum.

"It is unacceptable for the UK Government to push this treaty and its reforms forward without a referendum and then start handing out jobs before it's been approved in other EU countries.

"This was a shambolic announcement of a bad decision and reflects very badly on both Mrs Kinnock and the Prime Minister himself."

Plaid MP: ‘ UK Government should be accountable to International Court of Justice’

Plaid’s Adam Price MP will tomorrow call on the UK Government to submit itself to the will of the International Court of Justice should the Iraq inquiry raise doubts as to the legality of the Iraq war.

Tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday), the House of Commons will debate the manner in which the Iraq inquiry should be carried out, and specifically whether the Inquiry should commit itself to an open and public investigation.

The International Court of Justice is the judicial arm of the United Nations. The Court’s principle role is to settle legal disputes between states submitted to it by them and to give advice on specific legal matters referred to it. Only states, not individuals, are eligible to appear before the Court.

Commenting in advance of the debate, Adam Price MP said:

“If the Government’s report raises doubts as to the legality of the Iraq war, then it is only right and fair that the Government should submit itself to the judicial scrutiny of the International Court of Justice.

“It should then fully accept its findings and it should remain the prerogative of the Court to issue a judgement.

“In the meantime, the Government should also consider splitting the initial inquiry in two now - one to look into why we went to war, and another to investigate actions during the war.

“Since the Government announced the Inquiry to be launched, it has already backtracked and is now unclear how the Inquiry is intended to be carried out. Even the Head of the Inquiry, Sir John Chilcot, is urging for open and public hearings.

“This has gone on for far too long, and with a closed investigation, it may well drag on again before we hear the truth. There are still unanswered questions and challenges to be accounted for.

“If the Government is serious about the findings of this Inquiry too, then it should willingly submit itself to the scrutiny of a higher Court. Tomorrow’s debate will be testament to how much the Government respects the investigation.

“Plaid Cymru has long argued that a full and transparent inquiry must have full access to all information and paper trails. Now the UK Government has to show that it is accountable to the electorate, but also accountable to the world community.”