The UK is doing something extraordinary while not many are watching.
Parliament had its second reading today of the Overseas Operations Bill which decriminalizes war crimes and torture carried out by UK soldiers abroad, by introducing a statute of limitation of 5 years.
This legislation is not just iniquitous but openly criminal, calling upon the UK to derogate from the European Convention on Human Rights and place its own law above the UN convention against torture and international Hague and Geneva conventions.
publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill…
Labour sacked three of its junior shadow ministers @NadiaWhittomeMP @BethWinterMP and @_OliviaBlake who defied the whip and voted against the legislation.
Synchronous to the prosecution of journalist Julian #Assange, MPs who object to torture are also silenced in the UK.
How does this law square up for someone like Saifullah Ghareb Yar whose family was brutally murdered by the SAS in 2011? He has sought justice from the Ministry of Defence for a decade and was ignored like countless other victims in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Even when a leaked cache of military emails published by the Sunday Times corroborated the victim's allegations– charges were dropped and not a single person in the entire chain of command is held accountable to this day.
bbc.com/news/uk-535971…
Another unforgettable act of brutality: Baha Mousa who was beaten to death by British forces in Iraq while in custody.
The officer was court-martialed, jailed for 1 year then released.
The UK doesn't seek to implement justice. It covers up imperialist war crimes and wickedness.
The bill passed second reading today in the House of Commons by 332 to 77. A shocking indicator of the wide consensus in Parliament to pursue an open violation of international law, human rights and any semblance of a fair legal system.
Corporal* Donald Payne, not an officer.
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