Baha Mousa II report

Report on the Baha Mousa Annual Memorial Lecture Tuesday 16 November at the Law Society, London

Introduction – Professor, Sir Nigel Rodley

Over 300 people attended this very informative lecture.

The talk commenced with an Introduction by Professor Sir Nigel Rodley, who was the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) from 1993 to 2001.

He provided a summary on the development of the UN mechanisms for combating torture, and added that progress had largely been driven by NGOs. He provided a biography of Professor Manfred Nowak who had just completed his appointment as SRT on 31 October 2010, a position which he had held since 2004.

Professor Nowak

Professor Nowak explained the definition of torture in accordance with UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and what would be considered to be systematic torture.

The process that he used as SRT to deal with allegations of torture was described. He explained that complaints would be screened by an assistant, and if the report appeared to be reliable it would come to him. He reported to the Human Rights Council in March, and the General Assembly in October each year.

Two recent reports, the UN Report of Guantanamo Bay in 2006 and the UN Joint Study on Secret Places of Detention of 2010 were said to be of particular relevance today. He added that the Optional Protocol on the Convention against Torture was seen an important tool in preventing this crime due to the requirement to permit visits by officials to places of detention. This procedure opened them up to outside scrutiny.

He stated that there had been recent confusion on authorised and unauthorised interrogation techniques. He clarified that the “War on Terror” was not seen as an armed conflict and therefore international human rights law applied to those detained in these circumstances. The UN Report on Secret Places of Detention states that there were sixty six states where such facilities were used. Secret detention is both a violation of humanitarian and human rights law.

In selecting countries, Professor Nowak aimed to visit a representative sample of states, and not just those that were perceived to have a bad record in relation to the treatment of detainees.

He provided examples of states where his visits were delayed, such as Russia and Cuba. He added that he had managed to visit China during his term of office, but this was only because the preparation for such a visit began in 2005 by a previous SRT. He also found that some visits were more difficult to carry out than others.

Professor Nowak found the best procedures and facilities to manage detainees in Denmark and Greenland. However, pictures were shown of other states where there were appalling overcrowded detention facilities. For example in Kathmandu there was no bed for detainees to lie on, and they had to fight for space to sleep.

One of the worst countries he visited was Equatorial Guinea, where officials did not even bother to move instruments away that had been used for the purposes of torture before his visit. Moreover, there were concerns in several countries regarding the number of children detained. An example provided was Togo, where children as young as 6 to 8 years old are in detention.

He concluded by stating that there was a global prison crisis in terms of overcrowding and inhuman conditions of detention, and that one of the reasons for torture was the ineffectiveness of criminal justice systems.

Finally, he stated that the United Kingdom was one of the few states which recognised universal jurisdiction in relation to crimes of torture.

Phil Shiner of Public Interest Lawyers

Phil Shiner informed the audience that Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) were representing 142 Iraqi men who had been mistreated by the British in Iraq. He provided information regarding the treatment these people had faced whist in the custody of the British military.

He made particular reference to the Joint Forward Interrogation Team (JFIT) and the instructions its interrogators had received. PIL had received accounts that interrogators were informed, that detainees should be forced to strip, and that they should be kept naked if they do not follow commands.

Many detainees refused to strip, particularly if women were present. They were sometimes sexually assaulted and were masturbated over by interrogators. They were also shown hard core films during Ramadan, and female interrogators showed their breasts and genitalia. Moreover, hard core pornographic literature was left in the toilets and the reaction of detainees to it was monitored. They were subject to food, drink and sleep deprivation. They were often held incommunicado and on occasions, not even the Red Cross knew their location.

We were shown a video, made available by the MOD, which revealed a detainee being repeatedly shouted at, insulted, humiliated and threatened. It was explained that the MOD allowed this video to be viewed because they thought that such treatment was legal. It was explained that this technique was known by the military as “harshing”.

Phil Shiner added that the military justice system lacks independence to deal with cases where there has been torture and ill-treatment of those in custody. He concluded by stating that due to the War on Terror and the attempts by the American administration to redefine torture, together with the actions by the UK military in Iraq, he was pessimistic about the future in terms of the way detainees will be treated.

Professor Rodley was more optimistic, because he thought the reaction of civil society against the abuses that had come to light in recent years, will lead to some improvements in the way those detained are treated.

Reporter

Dave Palmer