Another day, another case of British spies being complicit in the torture of one of their own citizens:
Britain’s intelligence and security agencies are facing claims that they were complicit in the brutal torture of a British man secretly detained in an African prison.
Ali Adorus, a security guard from east London, was subjected to electrocution, hooding and beatings during his 18 month imprisonment in Ethiopia, according to allegations made against Ethiopia and Britain to the United Nations High Commission.
Before leaving Britain to visit family in Ethiopia in 2012, Mr Adorus had complained that he had been targeted by the Metropolitan Police and the Security Service, MI5, over alleged links to Islamic extremism.
Now his lawyers say that some information contained in a false confession, which he claims was beaten out of him in an Ethiopian prison, could only have been provided by “British intelligence”. It is the latest case in which Britain has been accused of complicity in the torture of UK nationals and residents.
There's a consistent pattern of behaviour here of British spies providing information which gets people tortured, or even providing questions for the torturers to ask for them. And despite repeated government denials and assurances that they don't do this, it just keeps happening. The only conclusion we can draw is that those denials and assurances are lies, and that the spies are continuing to ignore the law and their supposed political masters.
There is an obvious answer to this: prosecution. Build a case for conspiracy to torture, drag the spies into court, and jail them if found guilty. The fact that the British government refuses to do this speaks volumes about its (lack of) good faith.
