Clarke under Fire over Guantanamo Comments (UK)

[struggle4progress]

Home Secretary Charles Clarke came under fire tonight over his comments on a Briton’s claims he was subjected to a catalogue of abuse while detained at Guantanamo Bay. <snip>

Martin Mubanga, 32, from Wembley, London, claims that while at the US base in Cuba he was interviewed for hours chained by the hand and ankle, and taken to “hot rooms” where the heating was turned up to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38C). <snip>

However, in an interview on BBC 1’s Breakfast with Frost, Mr Clarke said national security had to be a priority and claimed media discussion was “not particularly well informed”. <snip>

Fair Trials Abroad director Stephen Jakobi responded angrily saying national security was no excuse to “rush out trying to lock up people and torture them”. <snip>

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4098897


Maybe it's due time to haul some of these jokers back down to Runnymede for a little refresher course in the natural rights of the freeborn ...

[autorank]

1. Just another reason why Blair and Labour MUST GO DOWN!

And stay down. The Labour Party is a menace to the world. It is the great enabler of Bush. Now Labour is saying that the strategy is to "adapt" to global warming. There is no way to describe the depth to which they have sunk. We as Democrats should never have anything to do with them again after what Labour has done. It is monstrous.

[kevinmc]

2. natural rights of the freeborn ...

Makes that saying "freedom isn't free" into a whole new meaning. One of the dumbest sayings ever.

[struggle4progress]

3. No Probe on Mubanga's Torture Claim

Feb 7 2005
By Daniel Boffey

HOME Secretary Charles Clarke yesterday said he would not hold an inquiry into claims that British prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were tortured. <snip>

Martin Mubanga - one of the four Britons released from the US camp last month- yesterday said he had been manacled, mopped with his own urine and racially abused by interrogators. <snip>

But Mr Clarke said: "If there are people who threaten national security, it is necessary to deal with that and address it in a very rigorous way."

Stephen Jakobi, of Fair Trials Abroad, said: "What is he saying? Provided somebody raises the words national security you can do anything to anyone."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/tm_objectid=15161165&method=full&siteid=50143&headline=no-probe-on-mubanga-s-torture-claim-name_page.html