Reprieve welcomes the suggestions of the Foreign Affairs Committee's Annual Human Rights Report

The FAC's report calls for historical guidance for intelligence officers to be released into the public domain as soon as possible...

To date, the British government still refuses to publish either the original or the apparently forthcoming revised guidelines for interrogation of prisoners given to British intelligence officers. Their rather tenuous reasoning is that to release such information into the public domain could compromise ongoing criminal proceedings (although, as David Miliband was embarassingly forced to admit earlier this year, he has no intention of releasing the original guidelines even after these proceedings have come to an end). 

We're happy to see that we are not the only ones frustrated by the government's stalling and obfuscation; Mike Gapes MP, the Chairman of this year's FAC report, states:

“While we understand the Government’s caution about publishing historical guidance to intelligence officers whilst current court cases are in progress, we are not convinced that the release of material that would be available to a court on request is likely to prejudice a case. We therefore recommend that such historical guidance should be placed in the public domain as soon as possible.”

Gapes and the Committee also expressed their disappointment at how the government has handled the issues surrounding Diego Garcia, particularly the fact that no steps have been taken to obtain the full details of the circumstances under which two individuals were rendered through the island by the US authorities. In fact, they recommended that the British government toughen up more generally when it comes to their American allies

"We recommend that, in its response to this Report, the Government supplies us with a full assessment of whether, in its opinion, the present US policy in relation to secret and transitory detention and permitted interrogation techniques fully conforms to international human rights standards as interpreted by the UK."

Furthermore, the Committee unequivocally declared that Britain has "a legal and moral obligation" to make absolutely sure that neither British territory nor British airspace plays host to those involved in the CIA's rendition circuit. 

Let's just hope that the government pays heed to their recommendations.