By IRNA,
London : A leading British legal charity has raised doubts about the impartiality of an inquiry into the UK’s alleged involvement in torture and has called for the senior judge appointed to chair the investigation to step down.
Sir Peter Gibson, a former appeal court judge, was appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron earlier this month to chair the investigation into claims of British complicity in the abuse of detainees abroad since the 9/11 attacks in the US.
But in a letter copied to Cameron, Reprieve raises a number of concerns about the suitability of Gibson for the post, saying his impartiality is “fatally compromised” because of his relationship with the security services.
“Sir Peter, who has overseen the security services for the last four years in his role as the intelligence services commissioner (ISC), cannot be expected to scrutinise his own work,” it said.
“Gibson was perhaps the least appropriate judge to evaluate the Security Services. The government must get serious about learning the mistakes of the past, rather than try to cover them up,” said Reprieve founder, human right lawyer Clive Stafford Smith.
Concerns about his appointment also included that the judge has already conducted a secret inquiry, at the previous government’s request, into allegations of misconduct by intelligence agents.
Reprieve said that furthermore in each of his three annual reports he had opined that all members of the Security Services are “trustworthy, conscientious and dependable”, thereby was entirely prejudging the issues before the inquiry.
The charity has been at the forefront of upholding the human rights of prisons and Smith has filed 128 lawsuits on behalf of Guantanamo Bay detainees and others across the world who say they have been tortured by the United States government.
The call for Gibson’s replacement is also supported by former Guantanamo prisoner Omar Deghayes, who said the inquiry had the potential of sending “a great message to the world that Britain will not tolerate torture”.
“But only if it is clearly separate from the Secret Services and gets to the real truth about what happened. We hope the inquiry helps everyone to come clean about their mistakes, so that we can put them behind us and look to a good future,” Deghayes said.