Abu Zubaydah, waterboarded and tortured by the CIA, was reported by the BBC to have been awarded a payment that may amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds because of the role of MI5 and MI6 in his mistreatment.
The Palestinian has never faced criminal charges. He remains imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay, more than 23 years since he was captured in Pakistan in 2002.
Britain’s intelligence agencies passed questions to the CIA to ask Zubaydah until 2006, even though MI6 was warned he was being subjected to harsh mistreatment years earlier. Lawyers argued this made the the UK complicit.
Reprieve issued this statement from Deputy CEO Dan Dolan:
“If the UK government was complicit in Abu Zubaydah’s horrendous torture, they owe him a public apology, not just a cash sum.
It’s a travesty that there has never been a judge-led inquiry into UK complicity in ‘war on terror’ era torture and rendition. There is a huge and tragic gap in accountability for these abuses. Sadly, this means that the lessons of this period have not been learned, as government guidance still suggests that Britain can trade in torture-tainted information – this must be fixed.”
It was quoted in the Guardian’s report.
