Craig Murray and British Human Rights

Since this blog began, its aim was to provide an unspun and indeed, a ground-breaking platform upon which stories that are neglected or immediately consigned to history, are discussed and revived for the purposes of alleviating our society from its amnesia and to remind society of what is done in our name. Today, I have found such a story...

Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan was sacked by the foreign office in 2004, under the watch of then Forgein Minister Jack Straw, now Justice Minister, for informing the British public of human rights abuses by Uzbeki police. The results of this torture, which was conducted with the knowledge of American and British officials, was intelligence that was to utilised in the global 'war on terror'.

Murray, whose website details all the abuses as well as his private memos on the issues of torture, which were made known to the British Foreign Office and largely ignored, demonstrate the callousness of British officials and indeed the government, as well as their inability to perform a moral duty, namely to hold the US to task or at the very least to support their ambassador's claims of human rights abuses conducted by Islom Karimov's regime.

According to Murray, the US government funded the Karimov government to the tune of $100million dollars per year with US tax payers money. The ties were further cemented by the deal struck by Enron to begin extracting natural gas from Uzbekistan. Central Asia contains some of the largest untapped natural gas reserves in the world, of which Uzbekistan is by far the largest country in the region.

The former ambassador's story is chilling, to its very core. He details how he saw pictures, which he passed on to the Foreign Office, of a young boy, Muzafar Avazov, who had died at the hands of Karimov's police after suffering from physical abuse (teeth smashed, fingernails pulled out) as well as immersion in boiling water. The photographs were also sent to the University of Glasgow's pathology department for verification by the Foreign Office, after which no further action was taken. The mother, Fatima Mukhadirova a vegetable seller, was subsequently sentenced to six years hard labour in a maximum security prison.

Such abuses were conducted in the government's efforts to crack down on 'Islamic Militants'. A tragic lie, culminating in the massacre of up to 5000 unarmed civilians in the town of Andijan on May 13 2005. The US government's response at the time was to request that "both sides exercise restraint." Murray in an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now questioned this statement, "should the people of Andijan have died more peacefully?"

What does all this mean in our context? Since the beginning of the war on terror, when congress provided the office of the President of the United States carte blanche in its capacity and capability to conduct the war on terror, Britain has tagged along hoping to seeking political and economic gifts in return for its unwavering, unstinting and unquestionable 'cooperation', we have seen a rise in human rights abuse conducted by Britain at home and overseas. At home the case of one Barbar Ahmed, still detained for more then twelve months after being incarcerated for alleged terror plots abroad has yet to stand trial for his alleged crimes. Overseas, the complicit involvement of British servicemen (diplomats and soldiers) in facilitating torture, or at the very least attempting nothing to prevent it alongside continuing to engage in an illegal war and occupation of a sovereign country has done much in the way of placing our citizens in harms way as well as harming our interests.

To top it off, we have a Justice Minister who did nothing to commend a valiant and courageous diplomat for exposing torture of a vigilante regime, and rather turned a blind eye instead of observing both the spirit and letter of international law. Perhaps the only justice one can expect is that sooner or later this government will join the ranks of the defilers, savages and brutes of history.

"Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts" - Aristotle