Challenging Lecture Series Looks At Ethics, Torture And The War On Terror

A challenging series of free public lectures, looking at ethics, torture and the War on Terror, will take place at Edge Hill University. The lecturers include Moazzam Begg, a British-born former prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay, enduring more than 300 interrogations and Craig Murray, the former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan, who was removed from his position after voicing opposition to the torture that was being carried out by the Uzbek regime.

Dr Mark McGovern, Reader in Sociology and Research Development and a specialist in writing about conflict, especially in Northern Ireland, is responsible for organising and initiating the lecture series. He said: “There can be few more important issues facing us today than the use of torture as part of the War on Terror. This was underlined in recent days with the announcement that some of those held at Guantanamo Bay, where one of our speakers Moazzam Begg was held for three years, are to stand trial before US military tribunals on charges of murder, war crimes and terrorism. It is a matter of public record that at least one of these accused confessed after being subjected to a form of torture know as ‘waterboarding’.

“As the excellent line-up of both academic and non-academic speakers we have invited to Edge Hill will explore, debates around the permissibility of torture raise profoundly disturbing questions about our current political landscape and challenges to the human rights of us all.”

Each lecture evening will begin with drinks at 5.00pm, followed at 6pm by the lecture. At 7.15pm light refreshments will be served. To book a free place please contact Dr Mark McGovern, on 01695 584621 or email: mcgoverm@edgehill.ac.uk

26th February 2008 - Richard Jackson

The Banality of Torture in the War on Terror

Richard Jackson is Reader in the Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University. In this lecture Richard Jackson will argue that torture is a core strategy of the War on Terror, conceived and sanctioned at the highest political levels and used far more widely than typically acknowledged. He will explore how a ‘torture-supporting culture’ has been constructed in Western societies by the political elite. Jackson argues that the torture is immoral, dangerous to democratic society, ineffective, counter-productive and should be abolished.

1st April 2008 - Moazzam Begg

Is Torture Ever Justified?

British-born Moazzam Begg, is spokesman for the Human Rights organisation, Cage prisoners. Drawing on his own experiences, this lecture will focus on the effects of the War on Terror and detention without trial. In 2001, he travelled to Kabul with his family to establish a school and water amenities for Afghanis. When the allied attack on Afghanistan was launched, Begg and his family moved to Islamabad in Pakistan for safety. They were seized by Pakistani police and CIA officers and taken back to Kabul where Begg was held in a windowless cellar for nearly a year. Ultimately he was taken to Guantanamo Bay. He spent a total of three years imprisoned during which time he says he was subjected to more than 300 interrogations, death threats and a series of horrific tortures.

10th April 2008 - Bob Brecher

Why torture is wrong: everywhere; always

Bob Brecher is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Brighton and Director of its Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics. His lecture will offer a critical analysis on recent attempts to argue for and justify the legalization of interrogational torture as an accepted weapon in the War on Terror.

1st June 2008 - Craig Murray

Truth, Torture and the War on Terror

Craig Murray discusses his experience around the use of torture by the intelligence services when he was British Ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2002 to 2004. Drawing on twenty years official service on intelligence matters with the highest security clearances both sides of the Atlantic, he argues that torture is being used to provide "intelligence" for propaganda purposes and warns that we should not believe much of the government narrative of the "War on Terror".