Fighting through layers of inter-governmental secrecy, Dr Sam Raphael has led a global investigation to unmask the intricate torture campaign led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) – and to bring a measure of justice for its victims.

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During the “War on Terror”, the CIA operated a secret programme for the kidnapping, secret detention and torture of scores of terror suspects, with individuals held without charge for months or years on end in a global network of secret prisons. These include 39 men who ended up at the infamous prison at Guantanamo Bay, many of whom are still detained. Obtaining any accountability, or justice, for the victims of this programme has been exceptionally difficult, due to the lack of transparency from the US and the many other countries which were involved – including the United Kingdom.

Dr Sam Raphael, as co-director of The Rendition Project, alongside Professor Ruth Blakeley of the University of Sheffield, has built the most detailed public account available of the hidden truth behind the War on Terror. Collected over many years, through a complex investigation into the torture programme which spanned across four continents, this body of data has been communicated through extensive interactive datasets, an openly accessible archive, and an extended report: CIA Torture Unredacted.

All of these outputs are available at The Rendition Project website.

Uncovering an “international criminal conspiracy”

Dr Raphael’s findings have been central to the quest for political and legal accountability for the expansive and systematic human rights abuses of the CIA’s torture programme.

Findings relating to the location of secret prisons across Asia, Africa and Europe, the involvement of intelligence agencies from more than 20 countries, and the fate and whereabouts of individuals caught up in the programme have all underpinned the UN’s efforts to hold the US and other countries accountable, including through high-level reports and resolutions.

Ben Emmerson QC, a former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counterterrorism, and former Special Advisor at the International Criminal Court, attests to this. He describes Raphael’s “meticulous research” as “an invaluable tool” in the UN’s efforts to unmask “the scale of the international criminal conspiracy that was orchestrated by the Bush-era CIA, as well as its collaborators such as the UK.”

Our efforts have been hugely strengthened by Dr Raphael’s work, which is considered a central reference point within the global human rights community for understanding the scale and scope of the program.

- Professor Margaret Satterthwaite, Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and former member of the UN’s Advisory Panel on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism

Finding justice in the courts

State authorities have often argued cases like these cannot be tried, for reasons of “national security”, while simultaneously denying secret detention and torture ever took place. Maya Foa, the Executive Director of Reprieve, states that Dr Raphael has provided them with “irrefutable evidence relating to the internal workings of the CIA torture programme, and Britain’s role within it. This has strengthened our work representing individuals, as we are able to use their research findings to demonstrate in court the facts relating to our clients, including where they were held, how they were treated, and which countries were complicit in their mistreatment”.

Dr Raphael’s research has also played a crucial role in a series of landmark legal victories, such as the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) finding that Romania and Lithuania supported the construction and operation of CIA secret prisons on their territory. Amnesty International has called these judgements “a key milestone in holding European governments accountable for their involvement in illegal CIA activities”. Other cases have been supported by Raphael’s research, including those before the Guantanamo Bay Military Commissions, the UK High Court, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

Investigation into CIA torture programme cover
CIA Torture Unredacted: an investigation into the CIA torture programme

Exposing the extent of UK complicity in War on Terror (2001–2010)

Dr Raphael and Professor Blakeley were the only academics called to testify to the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee’s (ISC) high-profile inquiry on detainee mistreatment. Their findings shaped the final reports, which received widespread media and parliamentary coverage, and remain the most comprehensive official account to date of British involvement in torture.

Raphael’s research has also been central to efforts to increase accountability in the future. This fight has included a full-scale legal challenge to the Government’s refusal to hold a public inquiry – a challenge the High Court allowed to proceed in 2019 and which was enabled by Raphael’s research and his detailed consultation to the MPs and NGOs involved.

Professor Blakeley’s and Dr Raphael’s research findings have provided key evidence for my work in this field. Their efforts have underpinned international advocacy and legal campaigns, as well as influencing parliament, and exposing the extent of UK complicity and failures of accountability. Their work is fundamental to our fight for justice.

– Dan Jarvis MBE MP

Tracking the current use of torture

Dr Raphael’s research has also directly resulted in the development of a more robust set of government guidelines on intelligence sharing and treatment of detainees.

The conclusions of the ISC’s final report reflected Raphael’s identification of the systematic weaknesses of the post-2010 “Consolidated Guidance” policy framework – which was designed to ensure that intelligence personnel comply with the UK’s international legal commitments.

Findings published by Raphael demonstrated that application of the framework by British officials, up to and including Ministers, ensured the routine authorisation for operations where torture was a serious risk, in explicit defiance of the law forbidding involvement in torture. His discovery of a secret Ministry of Defence “torture policy” led directly to high-profile media attention and debate in Parliament, as well as a concerted effort by NGOs and over 20 parliamentarians to pressure the Government to amend its policy.

This work played a significant role in Prime Minister May’s decision to launch a widescale review by the Investigatory Powers Commissioner (IPC). Raphael and Blakeley were the only academics to contribute to the review, and, as Foa puts it, their research “directly shaped a number of civil society submissions”, from Reprieve and other NGOs.

Raphael’s findings were integrated into the IPC’s recommendations, which were accepted by the UK Government in full. The amended policy framework is significantly more robust as a direct result of Raphael’s research, and is more closely aligned with the UK’s stated legal and ethical commitments.

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