Edited rom ‘Tortured by the State’
Torture is when somebody in an official capacity inflicts severe mental or physical pain or suffering on somebody else for a specific purpose.
Amnesty International
The claim to have been tortured by the state comes only after careful deliberation. After all, torture by governments is not something associated with liberal democracies. We like to think of ourselves as being both liberal and democratic, and that we have evolved to a far more civilised state of being where the practice of our government, military, intelligence and police service would not include inflicting pain, either physical or mental, on their own citizens under any circumstances. These are all reasonable assumptions to make, and until I met this MI5 counter-terrorism unit, I would not have believed for one moment that torture was being employed in this country, upon our own citizens.
No one has the right to inflict torture, or to subject anyone else to cruel or inhuman treatment.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 5 (1948)
I understand that this claim sounds outlandish. After all, here I am, a British citizen, claiming to have been tortured on British soil by British security and police officers. What is more, this torture has not lasted for a day or two, or a week or even some months, but this torture has occurred over the course of years. I understand that you would have some reservations believing this claim, and ask only that you reserve judgement until you have read through the diary excerpts which I have included. Those excerpts do not give a full account of what, since August 2017, I have had to endure. They can never truly capture the feeling of years of systematic harassment and intimidation. Language, I find, is insufficient to describe what it is liked to be constantly followed, to have all your communications intercepted, to be harassed, abused and tormented consistently over a number of years by people in positions of trust and power. I cannot describe what it is like to have undercover police constantly outside your home who make a point of ensuring that you are aware of their presence, just as I cannot fully describe what it is like to have a police officer threaten you, let alone threaten to kill you (Feb 20th, 2020). Words cannot describe what years and years of sleep deprivation feels like. When a police officer wakes you up by standing outside your home and laughing the night after you find out your sister has passed away, I cannot describe. To have police dogs put outside your home and made to bark, there are few words which can capture how this feels. When you see police officers fabricating evidence, trying to set you up, it is pretty much indescribable. Imagine driving to and from work each day with the knowledge that you are being followed, and whilst at work they continually drive up and down with their sirens on. To live in isolation for over four years because no one believes that the police and intelligence services would be that racist, corrupt and incompetent to place you under surveillance for a day, let alone for five years, I cannot describe.
However, the diary excerpts I have included in this book do at least provide some valuable insight into a life void of Human Rights in a (so-called) democratic country, just as they give valuable insight into the practices used by the security services and the Metropolitan Police – practices which go unreported and about which we, the people, know nothing. The accounts in this book go some way to describing what it is like to life with daily abuse and systematic harassment by people in authority and power – people who are, ostensibly, there to protect you and keep you safe.
For the purposes of this Convention, the term “torture” means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.
United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Artice 1 (1984)
The above treaty was ratified by the UK government on 8th December, 1988, and also included a commitment to ensure that torture would not take place. Other treaties ratified by the UK government include:
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 7 (1973)
Torture can take many forms, the subtlest of which is psychological as this form of emotional abuse is not apparent to the eye – the scars and the wounds are not obvious – yet the effects are just as devastating. Most prominent has been the practice of sleep deprivation. This started in early 2018 and continues to the present, progressing from helicopters to sirens, to being woken directly by officers. However, sleep deprivation is only one aspect of the torture. For years, I have had to endure systematic harassment and intimidation, which I have attempted to outline…
Torture can never be justified. It is barbaric and inhumane, and replaces the rule of law with terror. No one is safe when governments allow its use.
Amnesty International