Of the Europeans who scrambled for control of Africa at the end of the 19th century, Belgium's King Leopold II left arguably the largest and most horrid legacy of all
In 1978 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that the British government had violated Article 3 of the European Commission on Human Rights in their treatment of 14 men in 1971. These "Hooded Men" had been selected for 5 techniques of "Deep Interrogation" - white noise, wall standing/ stress positions, sleep deprivation, bread and water diet, and hooding...
Brief for the British Attorney General (AG) in preparation for the 'Irish state case' (the Hooded Men) from September 1972 from DS10 (the Defence Secretariat at the MoD in London). Of interest is the disinformation provided to the AG, the most senior law officer in Britain, by the Ministry of Defence. At para 4 it is claimed that Ballykelly only...
CJ4 3963. Memo to David Wyatt (MI6's man in Belfast) from David Blatherwick, 19 October 1981
In this memo, Blatherwick claims that neither Ministers nor officials have had direct dealings with persons or organisations involved in paramilitary activity 'in recent years.' A closed file in Kew, however, gives the lie to that statement. The file's reference and title is: CJ4 3963, Meetings and contacts with UDA leadership 1976-79. In an earlier memo it was claimed that...