{"id":12257,"date":"2026-01-15T16:16:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/us\/2026\/01\/15\/uk-government-settles-with-torture-victim-abu-zubaydah-reprieve-comment\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T16:16:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T16:16:48","slug":"uk-government-settles-with-torture-victim-abu-zubaydah-reprieve-comment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/us\/2026\/01\/15\/uk-government-settles-with-torture-victim-abu-zubaydah-reprieve-comment\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Government settles with torture victim Abu Zubaydah \u2013 Reprieve comment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Abu Zubaydah, waterboarded and tortured by the CIA, was reported by the BBC to have been awarded a payment that may amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds because of the role of MI5\u00a0and MI6 in his mistreatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Palestinian has never faced criminal charges. He remains imprisoned in Guant\u00e1namo Bay, more than 23 years since he was captured in Pakistan in 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Britain&#8217;s intelligence agencies passed questions to the CIA to ask Zubaydah until 2006, even though MI6 was warned he was being subjected to harsh mistreatment years earlier. Lawyers argued this made the the UK complicit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reprieve issued this statement from Deputy CEO Dan Dolan:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf the UK government was complicit in Abu Zubaydah\u2019s horrendous torture, they owe him a public apology, not just a cash sum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a travesty that there has never been a judge-led inquiry into UK complicity in \u2018war on terror\u2019 era torture and rendition. There is a huge and tragic gap in accountability for these abuses. Sadly, this means that the lessons of this period have not been learned, as government guidance still suggests that Britain can trade in torture-tainted information \u2013 this must be fixed.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was quoted in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jan\/12\/uk-ministers-should-explain-compensation-payment-to-guantanamo-detainee-dominic-grieve-says\">the Guardian&#8217;s report<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Abu Zubaydah, waterboarded and tortured by the CIA, was reported by the BBC to have been awarded a payment that may amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds because of the role of MI5\u00a0and MI6 in his mistreatment. The Palestinian has never faced criminal charges. He remains imprisoned in Guant\u00e1namo Bay, more than 23 years &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/us\/2026\/01\/15\/uk-government-settles-with-torture-victim-abu-zubaydah-reprieve-comment\/\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12159,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[127],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>UK Government settles with torture victim Abu Zubaydah \u2013 Reprieve comment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/reprieve.org\/uk\/2026\/01\/15\/uk-government-settles-with-torture-victim-abu-zubaydah-reprieve-comment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK Government settles with torture victim Abu Zubaydah \u2013 Reprieve comment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Abu Zubaydah, waterboarded and tortured by the CIA, was reported by the BBC to have been awarded a payment that may amount to hundreds of thousands of pounds because of the role of MI5\u00a0and MI6 in his mistreatment. The Palestinian has never faced criminal charges. 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