This Side of Silence: Human Rights, Torture, and the Recognition of Cruelty

229 Pages·2011·1.437 MB·English

by  Tobias Kelly

This Side of Silence
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PennsylvaniaStudiesinHumanRights
BertB.Lockwood,Jr.,SeriesEditor
Acompletelistofbooksintheseriesisavailablefromthepublisher.
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This Side of Silence
Human Rights, Torture, and the Recognition
of Cruelty
Tobias Kelly
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS
PHILADELPHIA
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Copyright(cid:2)2012UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsusedforpurposesofrevieworscholarlycitation,
noneofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformbyanymeanswithoutwrittenpermission
fromthepublisher.
Publishedby
UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress
Philadelphia,Pennsylvania19104-4112
www.upenn.edu/pennpress
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Kelly,Tobias.
Thissideofsilence:humanrights,torture,andtherecognitionofcruelty/Tobias
Kelly.—1sted.
p. cm.—(Pennsylvaniastudiesinhumanrights)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-8122-4373-4(hardcover:alk.paper)
1.Torture—Moralandethicalaspects—GreatBritain. 2.Politicalprisoners—Abuse
of—GreatBritain. 3.Politicalprisoners—Legalstatus,laws,etc.—GreatBritain.
4.Suffering—Politicalaspects—GreatBritain. 5.Humanrights—GreatBritain. I.Title.
II.Series:Pennsylvaniastudiesinhumanrights.
HV8599.G8K45 2012
364.6(cid:2)7—dc23
2011023289
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ForFayeandMatilda
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Thegreatmaximofallcivilizedlegalsystems,thattheburdenof
proofmustalwaysrestwiththeaccuser,sprangfromtheinsightthat
onlyguiltcanbeirrefutablyproved.Innocence,onthecontrary,to
theextentthatitismorethan‘‘notguilty,’’cannotbeprovedbut
mustbeacceptedonoath,wherebythetroubleisthatthisfaith
cannotbesupportedbythegivenword,whichcanbealie.
—HannahArendt,OnRevolution
Ifwehadakeenvisionandfeelingofallordinaryhumanlife,it
wouldbelikehearingthegrassgrowandthesquirrel’sheartbeat,
andweshoulddieofthatroarwhichliesontheothersideof
silence.
—GeorgeEliot,Middlemarch
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Contents
Introduction 1
1 TalkingaboutTortureaftertheHumanRightsRevolution 25
2 TheLegalRecognitionofTortureSurvivors 46
3 ClinicalEvidenceaboutTorture 71
4 PredictingtheFutureRiskofTorture 100
5 ProsecutingTorture 119
6 TheShameofTorture 147
Conclusion 169
Notes 177
Bibliography 197
Index 213
Acknowledgments 219
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Introduction
InlateApril2002BinyamMohamedwasturnedovertotheUSauthori-
ties after being arrested by Pakistani police at Karachi Airport.
Mohamed was born in Ethiopia but in the mid-1990s had claimed asy-
lum in the United Kingdom. He had converted to Islam in 2001, and
laterthesameyeartraveledtoAfghanistanandthenPakistan.Following
Mohamed’sdetentioninPakistan,hewasinterviewedbyFederalBureau
of Investigation (FBI) agents and flown to Morocco, where he was
imprisonedforeighteenmonths.Mohamedwasthensenttoadetention
centerrunbytheCentralIntelligenceAgency(CIA)inAfghanistan,and
finally,inSeptember2004,hewassenttoGuantanamoBay.TheUSmil-
itary alleged that Mohamed had been trained in Kabul to make ‘‘dirty
bombs’’andwasplanningtocarryoutanattackonUSsoil.Thecharges
againsthimwereeventuallydropped,andhewasreleasedandreturned
totheUnitedKingdominearly2009.
WhileMohamedwasinGuantanamoBay,hemadeallegationsthathe
had been tortured when he was in Pakistan, Morocco, and Afghanistan.
A US court later ruled that Mohamed’s ‘‘trauma lasted for 2 long years.
Duringthattime,hewasphysicallyandpsychologicallytortured.Hisgeni-
talsweremutilated.Hewasdeprivedofsleepandfood.Hewassummarily
transported from one foreign prison to another. Captors held him in
stress positions for days at a time.’’1 Back in the United Kingdom,
Mohamed’slawyersfiledapetitioninthecourtsdemandingthattheFor-
eign Office turn over all the evidence they had about his abuse. In the
summerof2008,EnglishjudgesruledthatanydocumentsheldbyBritish
authorities should be given to Mohamed’s lawyers but not made public,
onthegroundsthattheirfulldisclosurecouldharmtheintelligencerela-
tionshipbetweentheUnitedKingdomandtheUnitedStates.Thejudges
alsofoundthatBritishagentshad‘‘facilitated’’Mohamed’sinterviewsby
the Pakistani and American security services.2 Two years later, English
AppealCourtjudgesruledthatifit‘‘hadbeenadministeredonbehalfof
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