Uncovering Truth on Torture from Overseas Posted by Adam Blickstein

Another twist in the continuing story of torture at Guantanamo:

British intelligence knew in advance that a former London janitor [Binyam Mohamed] now awaiting trial by a U.S. military commission in Guantanamo Bay would be tortured in an Arab country to extract evidence, his lawyers allege.

His lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said the British authorities had a duty to reveal what they knew, in order to support his case that terrorism allegations against him are false and based on torture.

A British parliamentary committee said last year there was a "reasonable probability" that intelligence passed from Britain to the United States was used to interrogate Mohamed.

The details of Mohamed's case are quite brutal. I'm not sure what culpability British officials would have if their own intelligence was used in the process of torture (or if there was pre-knowledge of torture) of a British-resident detainee held by Americans at Guantanamo, but it seems clear that this case could be significant for a few reasons. 

While the Administration essentially extracted itself from international law and the Geneva Conventions and therefore claims it placed itself outside its jurisdiction, cases such as Mohamed's could create a de facto 'war crimes investigation," independent of America's purview. Bringing such a case outside U.S. jurisdiction could create a whole new paradigm that allows previously unknown or unconfirmed information to be released. Such a judicial process might not necessarily hold specific officials legally responsible for authorizing torture or other illegal activities, but  the proceedings might work to further affirm previously made assertions of torture and mistreatment by finding out what other countries knew, and how they may have been complicit, through the release of specific evidence and testimony. 

The British government has already claimed that "the UK is under no obligation under international law to assist foreign courts and tribunals in assuring that torture evidence is not admitted." But it will take a court to either confirm or reject this claim, and attempt to help clarify the 'fog of law'.  Occurring outside the Administration's ability to claim executive authority and the federal courts proclivity to err on the side of the Executive branch could be an important opportunity to further uncover information on the true nature of our detainment, extraction, and interrogation programs at Guantanamo and elsewhere. 

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Occurring outside the Administration's ability to claim executive authority and the federal courts proclivity to err on the side of the Executive branch could be an important opportunity to further uncover information on the true nature of our detainment, extraction, and interrogation programs at Guantanamo and elsewhere.
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