CAGE International has announce its intention to file a war crimes complaint against former UK government ministers Robert Jenrick and Ben Wallace. The move comes in response to Jenrick’s recent campaign video, in which he states that British Special Forces are “killing rather than capturing ‘terrorists’” to prevent their release under human rights laws, specifically referencing Ben Wallace’s 2023 Telegraph interview.
The advocacy group is currently consulting specialist barristers in light of these admissions to assist in filing a formal complaint with the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit.
The campaign video, shared on social media, also features footage of the Qala-i-Jangi massacre, which took place in 2001 in northern Afghanistan and which survivors have described as the largest mass killing of prisoners in US history. There have been longstanding suspicions of British involvement in the massacre.
Jenrick’s public acknowledgment of extrajudicial killings indicates an awareness of war crimes being committed, which he has revealed inadvertently.
“In his video promoting his bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party, Robert Jenrick is pulling no punches,” said CAGE’s Senior Director and Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Moazzam Begg. “He wants to appear tough on immigration, tough on crime, tough on terrorism.” Although he is appealing to the growing far right sentiment across Europe, Begg pointed out, Muslims are his unsaid but specifically intended target.
“His messaging is deliberate as his wording is precise. He cares not about the connotations of admitting that British forces carry out extrajudicial murder of suspects in order to avoid the law. He knows well that once you’ve invoked the terrorism label anything is possible.”
The video that Jenrick uses to illustrate his point includes footage of the Qala-i-Jangi massacre, where over 500 largely unarmed Taliban prisoners were bombed, shot, drowned, burned or electrocuted to death, added the CAGE official.
“Although a war crime largely conducted by US and Afghan forces, British Special Boat Service elite soldiers played a key role in the killings. The fact that no one has been held accountable for one of the largest prison massacres in modern history explains why the man who aspires to become the leader of his party and perhaps prime minister of Britain one day can cite it with such ease.”
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