Translations of this page?:

This is an old revision of the document!


Craig Murray

„If the authorities now refuse to allow him [Assange] out on bail during the Covid-19 outbreak, I do not see how anybody can possibly argue there is any intention other than to cause his death.“Craig Murray

Craig John Murray (*17 October 1958, Norfolk, UK) is a former ambassador, whistleblower, historian, author, blogger and human rights activist. He is also a friend of Julian Assange. He is following the extradition trial, informing and holding speeches and writing articles about his extradition case to the US on this homepage and blog.

Murray as former Britains Ambassador to Uzbekistan has criticised MI6 for using intelligence gained through torture.

In a confidential internal document, Murray said Uzbek officials of the Karimov-Regime abused prisoners to extract information. He advised MI6 had used information passed on to it by the CIA but originally obtained in Uzbek torture cells.

Murray has been an outspoken critic of the regime's human rights record throughout his two years as ambassador. According to a document leaked to the Financial Times, Murray said “Torture dupes are forced to sign up to confessions showing what the Uzbek government wants the US and UK to believe” and that the Uzbeks exaggerate the activity of local militants and their links with al-Qaeda.

The Foreign Office tried to force him to resign for one year with “untrue” disciplinary charges. His removal has prompted an open letter to the British government from Uzbek political activists who describe him as a “force for democratic change”.

In the leaked telegram, printed in the Financial Times, he wrote that the use of information gained by torture was “morally, practically and legally wrong”.

“I expressed my view strongly, but only internally. “It wasn't me that leaked my views to the Financial Times but plainly that has led to my removal from my post.”

“Anyone who even internally questions what's happening is going to seriously damage their employment prospects.”

He added: “This sends a very strong signal that since the start of the war on terrorism, anyone who even internally questions what's happening from a liberal standpoint is going to seriously damage their employment prospects.”

Mr Murray was summoned back to London in August 2003 and presented with 18 allegations about his behaviour and given a week to resign. He suffered a breakdown and the charges were dropped. The Foreign Office refused to be interviewed about Mr Murray's claims, but in a statement said he had been withdrawn, not on disciplinary, but on “operational grounds”.

The next decade he lived “as a dissident where I have devoted my life to exposing, and trying to counter, the evil of the neo-conservative policy pursued by our political class at the behest of the corporations who fund them. I have suffered a huge loss in money, status and most of the other normal aspirations. But what I have gained is invaluable. I have respect and love, while Blair and Straw will forever be despised.”

You could leave a comment if you were logged in.
  • profile_craig_murray.1587559385.txt.gz
  • Last modified: 2020/04/22 12:43
  • by editor42