JUSTICE – together with a number of other NGOs – has written to the Foreign Secretary to ask how the Government can justify passing the responsibility for the inquiry into the treatment of detainees – formerly under the supervision of Sir Peter Gibson – to the Intelligence and Security Committee (“ISC”).
The signatories to the letter raised serious concerns about the capacity of the Gibson inquiry to meet the obligation of the United Kingdom Government to effectively investigate the serious allegations of torture made by numerous detainees during the last Government. However, the Government has now promised a judicial inquiry to the detainees and the international community in its recent reporting to the United Nations. As the Minister responsible for those commitments, the Secretary of State should explain why the primary focus for the inquiry will now be the ISC and whether the Government considers that this work will discharge its obligation to investigate the allegations of torture made.
Read the Joint NGO letter.