‘Dirty War’ general to face court action over torture

Posted by Jim on January 13, 2019

Former senior British Army General Frank Kitson is one of several high
profile British establishment figures facing legal action brought by two
members of the group known as the Hooded Men.

Liam Shannon and Jim Auld recently launched proceedings against Kitson
and other former British political figures, including the estate of
former British Prime Minister Edward Heath.

The men were subjected to torture at a now defunct British Army barracks
in County Derry.

A total of fourteen men have said they were subjected to ‘five
techniques’ including being hooded, made to stand in stress positions,
forced to listen to loud static noise and being deprived of sleep, food
and water.

In some cases they were also thrown from helicopters they were told were
hundreds of feet in the air despite being just feet off the ground.

Earlier this year the European Court of Human Rights rejected an appeal
by the 26 County government against a ruling that they were not
tortured. In 1978 the court held their treatment was inhuman and
degrading, but fell short of torture.

Hundreds of nationalists were held without charge during internment,
which ran from 1971 to 1975.

Kitson directed British military actons in the North at the time. He was
a key strategist behind Britain’s historical “dirty war” in Ireland.

The London-born officer rose to one of the highest British military
ranks, serving as the Commander-in-Chief of Land Forces, with a fistful
of ‘Empire’ titles to his name.

In Ireland he is best known as the man behind such notorious groups as
the MRF (Military Reaction Force), the SRU (Special Reconnaissance Unit)
and the FRU (Force Research Unit), acronyms for a number of related
British state death squads.

Author of a military manual on “Low Intensity Operations”, his murderous
plans were used for British colonial suppression in Malaya and Kenya
before being deployed in the north of Ireland.

Kitson has so far escaped legal censure in Ireland, the authorities in
Britain going to extraordinary lengths to keep him out of harms way —
or the witness box.

Also included in the legal actions are the estates of former British
Defence Minister Peter Carrington and Home Secretary Reginald Maudling,
who were both in office when internment was introduced.

Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law said new documents had come to light.

“In light of the further documents uncovered, we have identified a
number of those ministers who were intimately involved in both the
preparation and execution of the torture techniques on the hooded men,”
he said.

“As a result, we have now served each minister and their respective
estates and heirs with the basis on which our clients will now seek
damages.”

Kevin Winters of KRW Law added: “It is now time for our clients to
receive an admission of liability by the British government, full
disclosure of all material that has been denied to them regarding the
authorisation of interrogation techniques involving torture by the
British army and the RUC, and compensation for their suffering – then
and now.”