‘Torture means the woman who was raped with a broken bottle, and died after 10 days of agony. 

The Government has been arguing before the House of Lords for the right to act on intelligence obtained by torture abroad. It wants to be able to use such material to detain people without trial in the UK, and as evidence in the courts. Key to its case is a statement to the Law Lords by the head of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller. In effect she argues that torture works. It foiled the famous ricin plot. 

She omits to mention that no more ricin was found than is the naturally occurring base level in your house or mine - or indeed that no poison of any kind was found. 

But let us leave that for now. She argues, in effect, that we need to get intelligence from foreign security services, to fight terrorism. And if they torture, so what? Her chief falsehood is our pretence that we don't know what happens in their dungeons. 

We do. And it is a dreadful story. Manningham-Buller is so fastidious she even avoids using the word "torture" in her evidence. Let alone the reality to which she turns such a carefully blind eye.’ 

The Reality Of Britain's Reliance On Torture

‘Hameed Hassan sat in the remains of his car, next to his dead wife, & watched his four-year-old son begin to bleed to death.  

The family had been on the way to buy clothes in Rawah's small market when the American soldiers opened fire. A helicopter gunship joined in the attack, cutting the car & two of its occupants to pieces.  

Hassan's wife, Basima Taha, died almost immediately: his youngest son, Mahmoud Muhsin, was not as lucky. Hit in the torso, his abdomen was torn open, a wound that would prove fatal.’  

How US Prices Death

Mark Fiore’s

Hide & Go Secret!

‘Amnesty International and Reprieve today called on the US government to stop blocking meaningful United Nations access to its Guantánamo detention centre and agree to access to all prisoners. The organisations were responding to the passing of a midnight deadline for the US government to agree to terms for a visit to Guantánamo by five independent experts of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.  

Amnesty International and Reprieve made the call as they announced the largest ever gathering of former "war on terror" prisoners and their families to highlight an increasingly globalised network of torture and ill-treatment.  

The three-day conference in London, this Saturday through Monday, also brings together international legal and medical experts and leading human rights campaigners to inform and encourage action against torture and the practices that lead to it, such as secret detentions and renditions.’ 

Largest-Ever Gathering Of Former Guantánamo Prisoners & Prisoners' Families

‘A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22 CIA agents suspected of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy’s financial capital in 2003, Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday.  

Milan magistrates suspect a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.  

Prosecutors asked the Italian Justice Ministry last month to seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States, but Justice Minister Roberto Castelli has not yet decided whether to act on the request.  

A European Union warrant is automatically valid across the 25-nation bloc and does not require approval of any government. 

EU Arrest Warrant Issued For 22 CIA Operatives