XPost: uk.politics.misc, alt.politics.british, alt.conspiracy   
   XPost: alt.conspiracy.new-world-order   
   From: banana@REMOVE_THIS.borve.demon.co.uk   
      
   ***BEGIN***   
      
   December 29, 2005   
   Damning documentary evidence unveiled. Dissident bloggers in coordinated   
   exposé of UK government lies over torture.   
      
   Help us beat the British government's gagging order by mirroring this   
   information on your own site or blog!   
      
   Constituent: "This question is for Mr Straw; Have you ever read any   
   documents where the intelligence has been procured through torturous   
   means?"   
      
   Jack Straw: "Not to the best of my knowledge... let me make this   
   clear... the British government does not support torture in any   
   circumstances. Full stop. We do not support the obtaining of   
   intelligence by torture, or its use." - Foreign Secretary Jack Straw,   
   election hustings, Blackburn, April 2005   
      
   I was summoned to the UK for a meeting on 8 March 2003. Michael Wood   
   gave his legal opinion that it was not illegal to obtain and to use   
   intelligence acquired by torture... On behalf of the intelligence   
   services, Matthew Kydd said that they found some of the material very   
   useful indeed with a direct bearing on the war on terror. Linda Duffield   
   said that she had been asked to assure me that my qualms of conscience   
   were respected and understood. - Ambassador Craig Murray, memo to the   
   Foreign Office, July 2004   
      
   With Tony Blair and Jack Straw cornered on extraordinary rendition, the   
   UK government is particularly anxious to suppress all evidence of our   
   complicity in obtaining intelligence extracted by foreign torturers.   
      
   The British Foreign Office is now seeking to block publication of Craig   
   Murray's forthcoming book, which documents his time as Ambassador to   
   Uzbekistan. The Foreign Office has demanded that Craig Murray remove all   
   references to two especially damning British government documents,   
   indicating that our government was knowingly receiving information   
   extracted by the Uzbeks through torture, and return every copy that he   
   has in his possession.   
      
   Craig Murray is refusing to do this. Instead, the documents are today   
   being published simultaneously on blogs all around the world.   
      
   The first document contains the text of several telegrams that Craig   
   Murray sent back to London from 2002 to 2004, warning that the   
   information being passed on by the Uzbek security services was torture-   
   tainted, and challenging MI6 claims that the information was nonetheless   
   "useful".   
      
   The second document is the text of a legal opinion from the Foreign   
   Office's Michael Wood, arguing that the use by intelligence services of   
   information extracted through torture does not constitute a violation of   
   the UN Convention Against Torture.   
      
   Craig Murray says:   
      
   In March 2003 I was summoned back to London from Tashkent specifically   
   for a meeting at which I was told to stop protesting. I was told   
   specifically that it was perfectly legal for us to obtain and to use   
   intelligence from the Uzbek torture chambers.   
      
   After this meeting Sir Michael Wood, the Foreign and Commonwealth   
   Office's legal adviser, wrote to confirm this position. This minute from   
   Michael Wood is perhaps the most important document that has become   
   public about extraordinary rendition. It is irrefutable evidence of the   
   government's use of torture material, and that I was attempting to stop   
   it. It is no wonder that the government is trying to suppress this.   
      
      
   First document: Confidential letters from Uzbekistan   
      
   Letter #1   
   Confidential   
   FM Tashkent   
   TO FCO, Cabinet Office, DFID, MODUK, OSCE Posts, Security Council Posts   
      
   16 September 02   
      
   SUBJECT: US/Uzbekistan: Promoting Terrorism   
   SUMMARY   
      
   US plays down human rights situation in Uzbekistan. A dangerous policy:   
   increasing repression combined with poverty will promote Islamic   
   terrorism. Support to Karimov regime a bankrupt and cynical policy.   
      
   DETAIL   
      
   The Economist of 7 September states: "Uzbekistan, in particular, has   
   jailed many thousands of moderate Islamists, an excellent way of   
   converting their families and friends to extremism." The Economist also   
   spoke of "the growing despotism of Mr Karimov" and judged that "the past   
   year has seen a further deterioration of an already grim human rights   
   record". I agree.   
      
   Between 7,000 and 10,000 political and religious prisoners are currently   
   detained, many after trials before kangaroo courts with no   
   representation. Terrible torture is commonplace: the EU is currently   
   considering a demarche over the terrible case of two Muslims tortured to   
   death in jail apparently with boiling water. Two leading dissidents,   
   Elena Urlaeva and Larissa Vdovna, were two weeks ago committed to a   
   lunatic asylum, where they are being drugged, for demonstrating on human   
   rights. Opposition political parties remain banned. There is no doubt   
   that September 11 gave the pretext to crack down still harder on dissent   
   under the guise of counter-terrorism.   
      
   Yet on 8 September the US State Department certified that Uzbekistan was   
   improving in both human rights and democracy, thus fulfilling a   
   constitutional requirement and allowing the continuing disbursement of   
   $140 million of US aid to Uzbekistan this year. Human Rights Watch   
   immediately published a commendably sober and balanced rebuttal of the   
   State Department claim.   
      
   Again we are back in the area of the US accepting sham reform [a   
   reference to my previous telegram on the economy]. In August media   
   censorship was abolished, and theoretically there are independent media   
   outlets, but in practice there is absolutely no criticism of President   
   Karimov or the central government in any Uzbek media. State Department   
   call this self-censorship: I am not sure that is a fair way to describe   
   an unwillingness to experience the brutal methods of the security   
   services.   
      
   Similarly, following US pressure when Karimov visited Washington, a   
   human rights NGO has been permitted to register. This is an advance, but   
   they have little impact given that no media are prepared to cover any of   
   their activities or carry any of their statements.   
   The final improvement State quote is that in one case of murder of a   
   prisoner the police involved have been prosecuted. That is an   
   improvement, but again related to the Karimov visit and does not appear   
   to presage a general change of policy. On the latest cases of torture   
   deaths the Uzbeks have given the OSCE an incredible explanation, given   
   the nature of the injuries, that the victims died in a fight between   
   prisoners.   
      
   But allowing a single NGO, a token prosecution of police officers and a   
   fake press freedom cannot possibly outweigh the huge scale of   
   detentions, the torture and the secret executions. President Karimov has   
   admitted to 100 executions a year but human rights groups believe there   
   are more. Added to this, all opposition parties remain banned (the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)