By IRNA,
London : A protest was held outside the US Embassy in London Saturday to express solidarity with the tens of thousands of victims of extraordinary rendition.
The demonstration, organised by the London Guantanamo Campaign, was planned to coincide with the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.
Estimates of the number of victims range from 40,000 to over 200,000 worldwide. Human rights organisations and civil liberty campaigners have also called for an independent inquiry into the UK’s role in torture and rendition during the US-led war on terror.
The London Guantanamo Campaign said that torture, kidnap, waterboarding, disappearances, sensory deprivation, simulated live burial and ‘ghost’ prisoners were “all in a day’s work for the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme.”
“Prisons such as Bagram continue to grow in size and stories of torture and abuse, including those involving the British security services, continue to emerge. This illegal practice and international complicity in it must end,” it said.
“No to torture and enforced ‘disappearance’. Yes to justice and respect for human rights and the rule of law,” were among the slogans of the protest.
Speakers included Liberal Democrat MEP peer Baroness Sarah Ludford, chair of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers Liz Davies, Ilyas Townsend from Justice for Aafia Coalition and Joy Hurcombe of Brighton Against Guantanamo.
Amongst others, Amnesty International has accused the British government of involvement in a catalogue of “grave human rights violations” since the September 2001 attacks in the US.
In a damning report in March, the human rights group cited “credible evidence” that the UK government is implicated in torture, unlawful detentions, rendition, the concealment of victims’ complaints and a failure to disclose evidence of torture.