In lieu of justice, impunity, international lawlessness washes away with dollars — or does it?
Former prisoners Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil el Banna, Richard Belmar, Omar Deghayes, Binyam Mohamed, Martin Mubanga took action against the British government. They claimed British security forces had been complicit in their torture at U.S.-occupied Guantanamo Bay. Britain’s High Court in July of this year ordered the release of 500,000 related documents.
Avoiding public trial and release of further first-person evidence, the British government “is expected to announce” pay offs amounting to more than 1.6 million dollars to the former Guantanamo Bay detainees.
“Earlier this month,” the Guardian recalls, “former U.S. president George W. Bush claimed that controversial interrogation techniques [torture in violation of the Geneva Convention], such as water boarding, had protected the UK from further terrorist attacks [but] UK Prime Minister David Cameron rejected the comments.”
The Prime Minister in July had announced an inquiry into claims that Britain’s security services had been “complicit in the torture of suspected violent extremists on foreign soil after the September 11, 2001 attacks” in the United States.
“Wherever appropriate,” France24 reports Prime Minister Cameron, “compensation would be offered to people who had brought civil court actions over their treatment.”
Settlement Hushed
“Details of the settlement will probably never be known,” Al Jazeera’s Paul Brennan reports today from London. “It is going to be an intrinsic part of the agreement … that there will be confidentiality.
“Neither side will be able to comment publicly or give details of the exact clauses that are included.”
This news begs the questions —
- How much in this “settlement” is the U.S. payment to Britain to pay off U.S.-tortured detainees?
- How many more are in the pipeline?
- When will those who ordered torture, acquiesced to torture, or both of these acts of lawlessness stand trial — stand before the bar of justice domestic or international?
Source and notes
“UK to pay ex-Guantanamo detainees— Compensation promised to former prisoners held in controversial detention facility in Cuba,” November 16, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/11/2010111613813702673.html
“Guantánamo Bay detainees to be paid compensation by UK government—Millions to be paid in compensation for prisoners who alleged UK complicity in torture and extraordinary rendition,”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/16/guantanamo-bay-compensation-claim “Britain to pay compensation to Guantanamo detainees,” http://www.france24.com/en/20101116-britain-pay-compensation-guantanamo-detainees-0
Guantanamo Bay
Since 2002, Guantanamo Bay has served as an internment facility for Muslim militants following the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan. Guantánamo Bay is served by the ports of Caimanera and Boquerón, which are linked by railroad and highway to the city of Guantánamo, 21 miles to the north.”
Guantanamo Bay is one of the largest and best-sheltered bays in the world, it has a narrow entrance to a harbor approximately 6 miles (10 km) wide and 12 miles (19 km) long and capable of accommodating large vessels.
Close to the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti, linking the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and Panama, Guantanamo Bay is occupied by a large, 45-square-mile (116-square-km) U.S. naval base that includes fortifications and airfields established by treaty in 1903.
Since the 1959 Revolution, the Cuban government has protested the U.S. presence and periodically has threatened to seize the base. The United States uses Guantanamo Bay as a U.S. fleet training base in the Caribbean Sea. U.S. marines landed there originally during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Guantanamo Bay (Spanish Bahía de Guantánamo) is an inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting southeastern Cuba. (Britannica notes)
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