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MI5 as deceitful broker: the case of Bisher al-Rawi & Jamil el-Banna

Waltzing Matilda | 18.11.2010 14:28 | Repression

An MI5 agent alleged to be associated with the conduct metered out on Binyam Mohammed will now not be prosecuted over claims he was complicit in Mr Mohammed's torture after the government settles out-of court to the tume of millions of pounds to 8 UK citizens and residents who were incarcerated in Guantánamo Bay with collusion from the UK authorities . However, we await the start of a broader independent inquiry into claims of British complicity in torture hopefully by the end of this year which will focus on the chain of command that may have allowed torture complicity by the British Security and Intelligence Services, and in so doing, will hopefully expose more about MI5's activities in relation to other individual cases such as Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna and the dirty-double dealing and criminal actions of MI5 which led to their illegal detention in Guantánamo Bay for 4 years.

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer yesturday quashed the legal prosecution into the MI5 officer alleged to have been complicit in the torture of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed. The decision comes a day after the government announced that the 8 UK citizens and residents who were incarcerated in Guantánamo Bay with collusion from the UK authorities and who were all pursuing a compensation claim against the British Government for millions of pounds are to receive millions of pounds in compensation.

In effect, they settled out of court. Why? It means none of the tens of thousands of documents and other information will be released by the courts. Documents already disclosed showed British intelligence officers abroad warned London some prisoners were being mistreated.

The MI5 agent alleged to be associated with the conduct metered out on Binyam Mohammed will now not be prosecuted over claims he was complicit in Mr Mohammed's torture. Scotland Yard launched the inquiry after Mr Mohamed said an employee of the Security Service was aware of his ill-treatment while he was being held in Pakistan in 2002. Starmer justified the decision on the grounds that there was "insufficient evidence" to prosecute the man, known as witness B, for any offence. Earlier this year, after months of non-disclosure by the Foreign Office under the former Labour government on the grounds of compromise of national security, the appeal court disclosed CIA-based intelligence showing that MI5 knew that Mohamed had been subjected to treatment "at the very least cruel, inhuman, and degrading" - something the UK denied up until then.

Binyam Mohamad was caught in Pakistan trying to get to the UK on 2 false passports, terrorist allegations claimed he confessed to under torture whilst in detention - likely to have happened in Morocco where he experienced the worst torture - allege that whilst in Pakistan, he went to a Al-Qai'da training camp (Al-Farouk training camp) because "he was curious".

The eight men were detained in Afghanistan and Pakistan at various times. It is understood that they claim that the British authorities were aware that they would be removed to Guantanamo but nonetheless continued to co-operate with the Americans. All 8 men were released at different times, and only after a change in government policy after previously saying whilst Tony Blair was PM that it could not intercede for non-British citizens. The policy changed no doubt with the successful pursuance of individual lawsuits. The 8 men include Omar Deghayes, Martin Mubanga, Richard Belmar, Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna.


The story of Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna and the dirty-double dealing and criminal actions of MI5:

However, of the 8 men, each of which have their own compelling and illuminating stories to tell, the case of Jamil el-Banna and Bisher al-Rawi implicates MI5 in the worst light, the details of which will hopefully see light of day in a broader independent inquiry into claims of British complicity in torture with former Appeal Court judge Sir Peter Gibson, which will commence once the police investigation has finished. A wider police investigation into other potential criminal conduct arising from allegations made by Mr Mohamed and others in interviews with the police including claims MI6 officials have also been linked to torture is still ongoing.

Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna were been seized by CIA agents in Gambia in November 2002 whilst on a visit to see al-Rawi's brother in regard to his peanut-oil business, after a tip-off by British security sources, even though they were undertaking voluntary assistance in facilitating communication for anti-terrorist intelligence work on behalf of two MI5 agents in the community (to act as a intermediary between MI5 and the cleric Abu Qatada, who attended their mosque) upon MI5's initial approach several weeks after 911. Al-Rawi and el-Banna were taken to the notorious prison in Bagram in Afghanistan before flown to Guantánamo Bay.

Incredibly, the US charged that al-Rawi and el-Banna worked with Abu Qatada, who is currently held in a UK high security jail, suspected of being part of Al Qaeda. The truth is that their association with Abu Qatada was directed by the British security forces who had asked him to “keep watch” on the cleric. They did this, and regularly reported to their two MI5 handlers "Matt" and "Alex". Throughout Mr al-Rawi's relationship with MI5, his agents pressured him to accept payment for his services. He refused all such overtures.


MI5 act as deceitful broker:

The initial arrangement with MI5 intially only involved Bisher al-Rawi - Jamil el-Banna got involved later on. It is reported that whilst Mr al-Rawi was actinmg as a intermediary for MI5 on his own, he became increasingly alarmed about his relationship with MI5 and his potential exposure. He sought assurances from Matt and Alex that his work as an intermediary between MI5 and Abu Qatada would not get him into trouble, requesting a meeting with MI5 and a private attorney, suggesting the human rights lawyer Gareth Peirce. MI5 refused and instead set up meetings with an MI5 lawyer who called himself "Simon". Simon assured Mr al-Rawi he was running no risk by working with MI5 and that MI5 and Simon himself would come to his aid if Mr al-Rawi found himself compromised. Simon told him that all he needed to do was record the date and time of his conversations with Simon, and MI5 would be able to identify and locate Simon. Mr al-Rawi backed down on insisting that they have a further meeting with a private attorney.

It is reported that Abu Qatada was completely aware of Mr al-Rawi's relationship with MI5. Mr al-Rawi carried questions and answers between the parties, served as a translator, and participated in negotiations with Abu Qatada.

Qatada's association with MI5 is said to have also started in this way as working as a intelligence asset for MI5; Qatada himself was said to have held meetings with an MI5 officer in the mid-1990s at which he suggested his willingness to cooperate to help prevent Islamic terrorism in the UK. It was only after tapes of his sermons “were unearthed in a Hamburg flat used by some of those responsible for the 11 September attacks on the US” that he was taken into custody in the UK. He was linked with the the March 2004 Madrid bombings because of contact with those who planned the bombing attack. Qatada was wanting in connection with planning supposed terrorist attacks in 1998 in Jordan, his native country. Qatada was arrested in October 2002, a month before al-Rawi and al-Banna were wrongly picked up by the CIA in the Gambia. In March 2001, according to journalist Jason Burke, Qatada wired money and instructions to three Hamas militants who soon met up with Al-Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan, to request funds and training (cited by O-Hara, Notes From the Borderland, Issue-8, 2007; original source: "Al-Qaeda" by Jason Burke, 2004). O-Hara correctly remarks that the link was indeed "especially interesting because Hamas and Al-Qaeda are not normally so close".

Al-Rawi has since revealed that he provided a safe-house for Qatada (Independent on Sunday, 16/01/2005). At the time, Qatada supposedly 'disappeared' between December 2001 and October 2002. French Security Services were reported to be under the impression Qatada was an MI5-informant (source; "The Suicide Factory", by Sean O-Neill & Daniel McGrory, Harper Collins 2006); it turns out, he appears to have been a double-agent, recruiting for Al-Qaeda training camps (McGrory, Ford, The Times, 25/03/2004).

Al-Rawi and el-Banna were only released in March 2007 after 4 years in Guantanamo prison, after a High-court hearing found in their favour, in which it was revealed how MI5 had falsely accused them and hung them out to dry, having used them to sustain operational work they were doing with Qatada which itself has questionable elements to it's own story.


Conclusion

The whole series of events between MI5 and al-Rawi and el-Banna reveals not only double-dealing, fit-ups and deceitful puppetmastery by MI5, as well as a staggering propensity to use human subjects like cattle and complicity to collude in the abuse of human rights, but in addition to this, either a staggering level of incompetence in regard to providing protection to Abu Qatada whilst he bit the hand that fed him leading to MI5, going to great lengths to cover their tracks and avoid exposure to their incompetence by compromising 2 individuals, or a systematic undertaking of a 'black ops' action within a faction of the security services which got out of hand.


More info:
"MI5, Camp Delta, and the story that shames Britain", by George B. Mickum
The Independent, Thursday, 16 March 2006
Ref:  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mi5-camp-delta-and-the-story-that-shames-britain-470074.html










Waltzing Matilda

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  1. unrelated to this, but re: MI5 - did MI5 kill Dr David Kelly — Bullshit Detector