New interrogation tapes reveal Moroccan role in CIA prison system

The AP reported yesterday that the CIA had produced new video-tapes showing the interrogations of Guantánamo Bay prisoner Ramzi bin al-Shibh, whilst he was being held at a secret CIA prison in Morocco in 2002.

The stash of tapes - found under a desk at the CIA's counter-terrorism office - reveal that there is more evidence of the CIA's torture programme than has previously been admitted, and hint at the central role played by Morocco in the secret prison system. This new information comes days after reports that other CIA prisoners, including Abu Zubaydah, were taken for CIA detention in Morocco in early 2004.

Worryingly for Obama, the CIA's arrangement with Morocco would fall outside the scope of his swathe of 2009 executive orders, intended to curb the CIA's detention practices. The Moroccan CIA facility was reportedly run by Moroccans, and the Moroccans carried out the torture. The CIA just provided the prisoners, and the questions.

If this rings any bells, its probably because the regime described in the AP article sounds very much like the arrangement used for the detention and torture in Morocco of various British prisoners, including Binyam Mohamed. We have known for some time that British personnel were regulars in UK military prisons such as Guantánamo Bay and Bagram Airforce Base. But if the British are found to have been taking advantage of a CIA-run facility in Morocco, it would raise difficult questions for the UK. It would bring to light British knowledge of the CIA prisons and interrogation practices worldwide, something that has always been denied.

It has been suggested that there are still more interrogation tapes to be revealed, and that some of them may have been sent over email, possibly all around the world. No doubt, the truth will inexorably reveal itself, and hopefully the impending UK torture inquiry will play a part in that process. Tuesday's news emphasises the need for broad terms of reference, and an examination of facts that go beyond the involvement of the UK in Guantánamo Bay and the Afghan prisons.