![](\"https:\/\/cdni.rt.com\/files\/2018.04\/thumbnail\/5ac202e1dda4c84d2f8b45f9.jpg\")
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A guide for British intelligence officers on how to avoid breaching the human rights of detainees is being secretly rewritten by government, according to reports.<\/p>\n
The guide is being redrafted without the help of rights groups, despite a clear recommendation from the intelligence services commissioner to this effect; leading UK activists to worry if the updated version will be dangerously lenient.<\/p>\n
A previous version of the \u201cconsolidated guidance<\/em>\u201d was rewritten in the wake of the 9\/11 attack on the Twin Towers in New York, and infamously allowed MI5 and MI6 officers to torture detainees overseas.<\/p>\n READ MORE: \u2018I\u2019d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding\u2019 \u2013 Trump at debates<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The current version<\/a>, released in 2010, was aimed at \u201cresolving the problems of the past<\/em>,\u201d according to then-prime minister David Cameron, who said<\/a> the updated guide was intended to give \u201cgreater clarity about what is and what is not acceptable in the future<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n The guide is now being redrafted again following a 2016 report<\/a> by Intelligence Services Commissioner Sir Mark Waller, who criticized the wording of the guide and MI6\u2019s dealings with a Kenyan anti-terrorism unit.<\/p>\n Waller recommended that the government consult human rights groups when compiling the updated version, but so far government departments, the intelligence agencies and Scotland Yard\u2019s counter-terrorism command are the only bodies known to have been consulted, according to The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now, five human rights groups have written to Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson to warn him that the \u201cdeep and lasting stain of UK complicity in extraordinary rendition and torture over the so-called war on terror powerfully demonstrates the need for safeguards<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: Retired intelligence operatives ask Trump to reverse Haspel CIA nomination<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe therefore have serious concerns that the government may be seeking to amend or even water down its guidance on torture behind closed door<\/em>s,\u201d wrote Fair Trials Abroad, Reprieve and Redress, as well as Amnesty International and Liberty, the newspaper reports.<\/p>\n \u201cThe government has provided no justification for why it has failed to adhere to the recommendations of its own commissioner and engage in a meaningful and transparent consultation, and chosen instead to talk only to itself and its own intelligence agencies,<\/em>\u201d the letter added.<\/p>\n Fears of a more lenient torture guide were exacerbated by US President Donald Trump\u2019s recent promise<\/a> to restore waterboarding and \u201ca hell of a lot worse<\/em>,\u201d as well as his nomination of Gina Haspel as the next head of the CIA. Haspel allegedly<\/a> oversaw the first CIA \u2018black site\u2019 in Thailand, which utilized torture techniques like waterboarding.<\/p>\n Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Via RT<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A guide for British intelligence officers on how to avoid breaching the human rights of detainees is being secretly rewritten by government, according to reports. The guide is being redrafted without the help of rights groups, despite a clear recommendation from the intelligence services commissioner to this effect; leading UK activists to worry if the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":354910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-354909","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}