Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Iran will respond through its Navy across the Gulf if the United States joins the war.
Israeli media: Missiles launches from iran were detected.
The chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces: The operations carried out thus far serve as a warning and deterrence. The punitive operations will be carried out soon.
Islamic Revolution Guard Corps: The tenth wave of missile attacks targeted the launch point of the Israeli regime's fighter jets.
Iranian media: Iranian cybersecurity teams are repelling the attacks.
Iranian media: "Israel" waged a major cyberattack on Iran's digital infrastructure.
Iranian TV: The new wave included missiles and drones and was launched from several areas.
Iranian TV: The tenth wave of Operation True Promise 3 against the occupying entity has begun.
The US-supplied THAAD air defense system is participating in the interception of Iranian missiles.
Israeli media says some 10 missiles detected from Iran.

UK faces legal challenge over role in CIA torture program

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: The Guardian
  • 9 Jun 2025 10:28
  • 1 Shares
4 Min Read

Two Guantanamo Bay detainees are challenging the UK government in a rare four-day hearing, accusing British intelligence of complicity in CIA-led torture at black sites following 9/11.

Listen
  • x
  • UK faces legal challenge over role in CIA torture programme
    Holding pens are overgrown with foliage in the now-abandoned Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, on November 21, 2013. (AP)

The UK government’s long-standing efforts to suppress details of its intelligence agencies’ involvement in the CIA's post-9/11 torture program face a historic challenge this week, an investigation by The Guardian revealed, as two Guantanamo Bay detainees bring claims before a secretive British court.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), operating behind closed doors, will hear the cases in a rare four-day trial beginning Tuesday. The tribunal has been investigating allegations that UK intelligence services were complicit in the abuse and mistreatment of prisoners held in the CIA’s global network of secret detention sites, commonly known as black sites.

According to The Guardian, the legal claims were filed by Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, two high-profile detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. The US accuses Hawsawi of supporting the 9/11 hijackers, while Nashiri is alleged to have plotted the 2000 bombing of a US naval vessel. Both men were captured in the early 2000s and detained in CIA black sites where they were subjected to what has widely been condemned as torture. Techniques reportedly included "rectal feeding," which medical experts have classified as sexual assault.

In 2006, after years of CIA detention, both men were transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where they remain. Despite facing charges that carry the death penalty, neither of their cases has proceeded to trial in the special US military court.

Evidence links MI6 to CIA interrogation tactics

Lawyers representing the detainees argue there is credible evidence that British intelligence agencies, MI5 and MI6, unlawfully aided and abetted the US in carrying out torture. According to the claims presented to the IPT, UK agencies allegedly encouraged, facilitated, or conspired with the CIA in the mistreatment of prisoners.

Related News

Bipartisan Congress bill seeks to block US war on Iran

Macron warns regime change in Iran could sow 'chaos' in region

In one significant development, a declassified CIA cable from 2003 revealed that while Hawsawi was being tortured at a black site in Afghanistan, US interrogators were instructed to "press" him for information regarding alleged terrorist activities in the UK, according to the investigation.

Read next: Dark history: How the US experimented on its own people

The cable, though publicly released in 2017, was recently identified by Unredacted, a research group at the University of Westminster. The timing and content of the message have raised new questions about whether British intelligence was feeding questions to the CIA while being aware of the torture.

Sam Raphael, director of Unredacted, said the evidence indicated "a clear interest in interrogating Hawsawi about specific UK-based operatives and plots at a time when he was being subjected to the worst kind of treatment." He added, "It raises an obvious and important question the tribunal should address: was British intelligence, which we know was directly and deeply involved in post-9/11 prisoner abuse, feeding the questions to the CIA?"

IPT hears claims of British role in black site programme

According to The Guardian, the IPT investigated the claims for the past two years, while the court’s ability to examine such allegations is rare, and its involvement in this case marks a new level of judicial scrutiny over what many consider one of the darkest periods in British intelligence history.

Chris Esdaile, a senior legal advisor at Redress, an NGO supporting victims of torture, described the trial as "unprecedented," stating, "Until now, efforts to lift the veil of secrecy and consider the full extent of the UK’s involvement in the CIA’s black site programme have been thwarted."

The hearing also revives criticism of the UK government’s decision to abandon a public inquiry into alleged complicity in torture. However, former Prime Minister David Cameron initiated the inquiry in 2010, promising transparency, but it was quietly shelved in 2019 despite mounting evidence and calls for accountability.

Additionally, in its 2018 report, Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee confirmed that British officers had engaged in "inexcusable" actions, with hundreds of cases of mistreatment and dozens of renditions. However, it stressed that its inquiry was "terminated prematurely" due to obstruction by ministers and intelligence officials, leaving critical questions unanswered.

  • United States
  • United Kingdom
  • CIA

Most Read

Iranian missiles impact Israeli sites in Tel Aviv in 2nd wave

Iran's missiles impact 'strategic' Israeli site in Tel Aviv

  • Politics
  • 14 Jun 2025
Bin Salman: Islamic world backs Iran in call to Pezeshkian

MBS says Islamic world backs Iran in call with Pezeshkian

  • MENA
  • 15 Jun 2025
Iran launches 9th wave of Op. True Promise 3, destroys IOF air defense

Iran launches 9th wave of Op. True Promise 3, destroys IOF air defense

  • MENA
  • Today
Smoke rises after an Iranian ballistic missile directly struck Tel Aviv, Occupied Palestine, June 13, 2025 (AP)

Op. True Promise 3: Iran's ballistic missiles strike Tel Aviv

  • MENA
  • 13 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
In this photo released by the Iranian Red Crescent Society rescuers work at the scene of an explosion after an Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 13, 2025. (Iranian Red Crescent Society via AP)
Politics

‘Israel’ targets civilians in Tehran; most victims are kids

France's President Emmanuel Macron arrives during the official welcome of the G7 Summit, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Kananaskis, Canada. (AP)
Politics

Macron warns West regime change in Iran would be 'strategic error'

Trump hints at escalation: G7 exit ‘much bigger’ than Iran ceasefire
Politics

Trump says G7 exit denotes something 'much bigger' than Iran ceasefire

A group photo of the G7 Summit, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Kananaskis, Canada (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
MENA

G7 sides with aggressor, says 'Israel' has 'right to defend itself'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS