Friday, June 27, 2008

CIA Above the Law?

Watch out for the forthcoming book: CIA Above the Law? Secret Detentions and Unlawful Inter-State Transfers of Detainees in Europe. Published by the Council of Europe next week (1st July) this book contains revealing eye-witness accounts of the state-sponsored extra-judicial kidnapping, detention and torture that has reduced several European states to the level of mobsters.

This publication is particularly relevant given MI5's involvement in the detention of two men Al-Rawi and El-Banna in Gambia, who were subsequently incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay without "due process". This act was in direct contravention of the British government's obligation as a member of the Council of Europe, as "Active and passive co-operation by a Council of Europe member state in imposing and executing secret detentions engages its responsibility under the European Convention on Human Rights."
Copies are available form the TSO Bookshop, but they charge £24 for a copy. You can buy a pdf download directly from the council of europe for 15 euros:

http://book.coe.int/EN/ficheouvrage.php?PAGEID=36&lang=EN&produit_aliasid=2323