Washington, April 27: Newly released Guantanamo files show that former UK government of Tony Blair knew British detainees were being tortured, yet it joined the US extraordinary rendition program.
The documents revealed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the British foreign intelligence agency MI6 rendered most of the British nationals in custody at the prison camp on Cuba, despite the knowlege of UK ministers and senior officials that abuses were being committed at the camp.
Meanwhile, the leaked documents show that the US intelligence apparatus knowingly kept innocent men locked up in Guantanamo Bay based on “fabricated stories” in what campaigners called a “travesty of justice”.
The documents published by WikiLeaks show that the US knew many Guantanamo prisoners were innocent but imprisoned and tortured them to get information.
Legal action charity Reprieve said the files proved that US authorities relied on “a handful of serial informants who fabricated stories against hundreds of prisoners to avoid abuse and earn favors.”
These men, whom the US and UK authorities knew were innocent, were imprisoned for years without trial because they were considered useful.
British national Jamal al-Harith was taken to Guantanamo just because he had been held in a Taliban prison and was thought to know how they interrogated inmates.
The documents support claims by campaigners and the inmates’ lawyers that US authorities relied heavily on discredited “information” obtained by torturing a small number of detainees to keep innocent men locked up.
Another British resident, Binyam Mohamed, was one of those held purely on the “evidence” of a fellow detainee who had been water-boarded.
“While the leaked documents only tell a tiny part of the story, they do provide some insight into what has been happening in Guantanamo”, said Reprieve director Clive Stafford Smith.
“Even laughable allegations that have been thrown out of court remain on prisoners’ files as statements of fact, simply because the military cannot stand to admit it was wrong”, added Reprieve’s legal director Cori Crider.
“The saddest part is that men have lost, and continue to lose, years of their lives because of this tissue of nonsense”, said Crider.
“It’s important to remember that this is far from over – there are 172 prisoners still at the camp and instead of fair trials they’re set to be put before unfair military commissions or even remain detained without any trial at all,” said an Amnesty International spokesman.
“In the case of Shaker Aamer (who remains imprisoned without trial after nine years) and former UK detainees like Binyam Mohamed, it will be important that the forthcoming Gibson inquiry into the UK’s alleged involvement in torture fully examines the WikiLeaks documents”, added the spokesman.
——–Agencies