Latest:

17:22 Super-sub Long heads Ireland to victory
17:22 Harlequins crowned champions
17:22 Girl's royal design takes to skies
17:21 Second body found in Indian river
16:52 Hundreds celebrate birth of Church
16:50 Anti-cuts 'party' in Clegg's street
16:50 Miliband warning on Afghan pullout
16:50 Action on discrimination urged

Prisoners ‘waterboarded during Northern Ireland Troubles’

Wednesday, 23 December 2009

Northern Ireland prisoners were subjected to controversial “waterboarding” interrogation techniques during the Troubles, it has been reported.

The claims are backed by the last man to receive a death penalty sentence in the UK after being found guilty of murdering a British soldier, according to the Guardian .

Liam Holden from west Belfast was sentenced to hang after being convicted in 1973, largely on the basis of an unsigned confession, the newspaper said.

Holden’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he spent 17 years behind bars after being convicted of murdering paratrooper Private Frank Bell in September 1972.

His conviction came after the jury did not believe him when he said members of the Parachute Regiment held him down and put a towel over his face before pouring water from a bucket over his nose and mouth.

Now, however, the independent Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred his case to the Court of Appeal in Belfast.

The move follows an examination of new evidence and the admissibility and “the admissibility and reliability” of confessions in the case.

The Guardian reported that the commission believes “there is a real possibility” his conviction will be quashed.

Despite the jury’s doubts over his claims, the version of events Holden gave at his trial bears strong resemblance to those made against the CIA, which began using waterboarding techniques while interrogating al-Qaida suspects during the ‘war on terror’.

According to the paper, lawyers say another man gave a similar account of being waterboarded after being arrested by detectives of the RUC and questioned about the murder of a police constable.

A number of republican former prisoners told the paper that waterboarding was used as a form of punishment, as well as a means of extracting confessions.

So-called waterboarding is a form of interrogation where water is repeatedly poured over someone's face giving them the impression they are drowning.

Print
Text Size
- Normal
- Large
- Extra Large

Comments

First |
Previous
1
2
Next
| Last

24 Comments

Royal Airforce and Gulf One Veteran: We catholics in N.Ireland were treated as second class citizens. Now aware of what people had to endure at the hands of the British Army. I now in my early sixites, remember the evil verbal abuse, I had to endure in my service period. That was nothing compared to the victims of the Troubles. How the soldier on the ground was able to get away with the killings of innocent women, children and others.
The Reluctant Airman.

Posted by Neil | 01.01.10, 16:03 GMT

Thank God I read the comments on this story after Christmas.
What a lovely bunch of humane, decent people you are.
But on a serious note, thank God none of you (I hope), administer law or participate in law enforcement.
To actually condone torture beggars believe, for any reason.
And some of you people cry out about Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, Robert Mugabe.......

Posted by Ulysses32 | 29.12.09, 14:41 GMT

The "news" here is that the DUP politicians and others have denied collusion and torture ever happened still to this day!!! They are not the right people to be running NI.

Posted by Barry | 24.12.09, 00:36 GMT

it was cruel for all sides involved - now, can we please let it go and move on..........

forget blaming each other and pumping millions into enquiries - lets try to build a future together......

Posted by Ian Wilson | 23.12.09, 22:31 GMT

There should be a "Geneva Convention" and "Code of Practise" addressing the Freedom Fighter and the Terrorist. Start with the CIA definition of Terrorist and work from there. And "acts of war/terrorism" can then clearly (mostly) be placed into one or the other category. The Terrorist action is a criminal action and the terrorists should be jailed and treated as a criminal. The Freedom Fighter action is a political act or act of war. and those captured should be treated as POWs. If you torture a prisoner it becomes a criminal act.

Posted by Philip Holdway-Davis | 23.12.09, 20:36 GMT

The only thing I regret about the troubles is letting it go on for so long.

Bloody waste of time and lives.

Quit dwelling on the past, money for rent and food need to be earned today and the only thing that is going to do that is attracting good business prospects.

There's been enough innocent people killed for nothing, those who continue that path shoudl be treated like common criminals and executed as such. They are not welcome in my country anymore.

Posted by Jake | 23.12.09, 18:39 GMT

Oh well, those who belonged to an organisation that used a sniper rifle to kill a little girl can hardly say its one sided, can they?

after all, most survive water boarding, a sniper rifle on the other hand...entirely different ending.

its wrong, yes, but it isnt murder.

and before the mouth pieces start, kathleen feeny was the little girls name.

Posted by philip | 23.12.09, 18:22 GMT

Hey, if you can't stand the heat then stay out of the kitchen. War sucks. Terrorists should forfiet thier human rights once they commit thier evil deeds. There can be no comparison with the legitimate state forces whose ultimate aim is the protection of the innocent.
Get over it. I just hope that this does not turn into another costly enquiry that this country can ill afford, unless of course all the do gooders who are complaining would like to put thier hands into thier own pockets and fund it.

Posted by Philip | 23.12.09, 16:52 GMT

Some of you need to wake up! Lets get the terrorists around the table, give them a cup of Tetley and a slice of ginger cake and talk about how they could divert their ways to a new residents group. I think not. If water boarding was used, great, more of it should be introduced. Liberal UK is a laughing stock in the law enforcment world. Afterall, we have a police force that run back to the police station if they see an illegal VCP. Joke.

Posted by Peter | 23.12.09, 16:28 GMT

Maybe I'm some sort of right wing nutcase, a bad person, not right in the head; I say that because I fully agree with interrogation.

I've never been in a war, I've never been shot at, had colleagues murdered or been responsible for trying to stop ruthless maniacs from blowing up and killing innocent men, women and children, but if I was in that situation I would want to interrogate every last suspect to try and get as much information out of them as possible in order to saves lives.

I fully support the British goverments' interrogation of murder suspects in the past and in the future; if people are in the business of indescrimate murder, then I have no sympathy for them when they get caught in the act, if waterboarding saved one childs life during the troubles then it was worthwhile, but I suspect it saved a lot more lives than that.

Right or wrong, this is my honest opinion, I am not saying this to offend anyone, it's just how I feel about it.

Merry Christmas all.

Posted by Steven73 | 23.12.09, 16:14 GMT

I must have missed where I approved of Britain's methods. However, both sides are very guilty of atrocities and if one is getting done for it so should the other.
McGuinness, Adams, Thatcher and countless others should all be facing tribunal at the Hague.

Posted by colin | 23.12.09, 15:59 GMT

So, because the IRA or other paramilitary groups did something, it's justifiable for the British state to do the same and worse?

If that's the line of reasoning some are taking, should we expect to see British soldiers carrying out suicide bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan in the near future?

Posted by Dublin | 23.12.09, 15:08 GMT

Waterboarding is NOT torture> Haven't you been listening to Dick Cheney?

Posted by toadstool | 23.12.09, 14:33 GMT

what about all the victims these people tortured. do people think when the IRA lifted someone from the street they took them for cups of tea, the shankill butchers they never tortured anyone right enough. what do people expect that is why it is called a dirty war.

Posted by belfast4 | 23.12.09, 14:24 GMT

Colin You do not here any cries for to bring the IRA to justice because the government tried for years and failed. No one ever tried Thatcher for authorizing torture and murder. The Army and Its commanders were never charged with shooting 14 people in the back even though the evidence is clear enough

Posted by Sean | 23.12.09, 14:03 GMT

In 1973 Amnesty International put Britain second on its list of worst torturer nations...just behind Uganda and just ahead of Argentina...must make Colin proud.

Posted by Patrick | 23.12.09, 13:42 GMT

Of course republicans always played fair. They never tortured any informers or members of the security forces. I think you will find that the terrorists (both sides) did things to people that made waterboarding look like a lesuirely swim

Posted by w | 23.12.09, 13:41 GMT

colin, so you are saying terrorists who are guilty or war crimes are comparable to state forces whose war crimes are state sponsored and authorised?

Or should countries that lecture others about deomcracy and enforce illegal "regime change" not at least attempt to take some sort of action to acknowledge and punish their own past wrong doing?

Northern Ireland wasn't the first or last Dirty War the Brits have fought...

Posted by Bren | 23.12.09, 13:24 GMT