We should not conduct torture nor should we be complicit

The foreign secretary has lost an appeal court bid to stop the disclosure of secret information relating to the alleged torture of Binyam Mohamed. This was a clash of rival principles, state security against the protection of human rights and prevention of torture.

In 2003 the UK signed up to the optional protocol to the United Nations convention on the prevention of torture that established a sub-committee with the right to enter any place of detention and examine the treatment of people held there. We should be proud that the UK was one of the first nations to sign the protocol and has by far the most comprehensive and sophisticated apparatus for carrying out its own independent investigations into places of detention.

So it is unseemly that the government is so resistant to admitting when things have gone wrong.

Mr Mohamed was held in Pakistan, at the behest of the US authorities and tortured, with the implicit collusion of UK officials. As anyone involved in the criminal justice process knows, the first step towards rehabilitation is admitting your guilt. Our government should admit its wrong doing and ensure that this never happens again, inside our borders or when we have any responsibility.

The government should do all it can to encourage other states to sign and adhere to the optional protocol. The United States is notable in refusing to sign up to many of the human rights protocols (the two countries not signed up to the convention of rights of the child are US and Somalia) and this seems to be an opportune moment to pile on the pressure.

We should not conduct torture nor should we be complicit.