Murder in Samarkand - Documents:

The former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has finally managed to publish his book Murder in Samarkand in which he describes the appalling human rights abuses by the US-funded regime of President Islam Karimov, and what happened when Craig tried to expose those abuses and the British and US complicity with the Karimov regime over torture.

The UK Government has tried to prevent the book being published and in order to get around the censorship Craig has put the supporting documents on his website.

In publishing "Murder in Samarkand" I had wanted to publish the supporting documentation in the book to cooroborate my story, especially as the FCO is claiming that the story is essentially untrue. In that sense, perhaps the most interesting link in the documents below is the very first document, which is a table of detailed amendments the FCO insisted be made to the text. This is fascinating if you consider just how much it confirms was true, particularly in the conversations it refers to between officials. - More and suppporting documents

The Government is now trying to silence Craig using the Crown Copyright Laws because he is not contravening the Official Secret's Act by publishing the documents on-line. They are threatening legal action and it is uncertain how much longer the documents will be available on his site.

Click on image for larger version or download pdf here

Blairwatch is mirroring the site here in the UK and several sites in the USA are also mirroring the documents and they should be unreachable by the UK Government. However the more bloggers who publish these documents, the less likely it is that the Government can succeed in stopping them spreading, so I am publishing them here. If this site does get shut down, then Dahr Jamail in the USA has a torrent file to share, and a zip to download of all the documents directly. You can also download a zip file from Polizeros.

An introduction to the documents, by Craig Murray:
In publishing "Murder in Samarkand" I had wanted to publish the supporting Documentation in the book to cooroborate my story, especially as the FCO is claiming that the story is essentially untrue. In that sense, perhaps the most interesting link in the Documents below is the very first Document, which is a table of detailed amendments the FCO insisted be made to the text. This is fascinating if you consider just how much it confirms was true, particularly in the conversations it refers to between officials.

Many of the other Documents I managed to have released under the Freedom of Information Act or Data Protection Act. I was astonished when the FCO announced that they would still take legal action against me if I published them. They argue that, and this astonished me, even if a Document is released under the DPA or FoIA, it is still copyright of the Crown and so cannot be published. I was even more amazed when the lawyers of the publisher said that this was probably true, and certainly could not be fought without potentially a million pound legal case.

It appears that, among so many attacks on civil liberties in recent years, the Blair government has managed to administratively negate its own Freedom of Information Act. Robin Cook must be spinning in his grave.

So we have made Murder in Samarkand an interactive bookthe Documents are published here, and referenced by URL in the text. Net posting is not breaching copyright because there is no charge to access the Documents. This site may, of course, be subject to technical attack, so I would be grateful if those who can mirror these documents on their own sites, do so.

These are contemporary Documents from my time as Ambassador in Uzbekistan. They do I believe include the real smoking gun on Britain's, and the CIA's, use of intelligence obtained by torture abroad. They also show the FCO getting increasingly angry with me over my being "over-focussed on human rights", rahter than building good relationships with Karimov, our ally in the War on Terror.

They do not give a smoking gun that proves that the allegations brought against me, of which I was eventually cleared, were trumped-up and motivated by a desire to get rid of me for policy reasons. Being internal FCO Documents, they are written to maintain the facade of a proper disciplinary investigation. You need to be prepared to read between the lines - and read the book!

Craig

Here are the Documents:

1. FCO Comment


2. IMF Telegram


3. Declaration


4. Speech


5. Hill Negotiation


6. Michael Wood memo of 13 March


7. Telegram of 18 March ‘2003 US Foreign Policy’


8. Letter from Simon Butt dated 16 April 2003


9. Exchange of emails with Linda Duffield


10. Colin Reynolds Report of 26 June 2003


11. Minute of my meeting with Howard Drake


12. Letter from British Businessmen in Tashkent


13. Email to Kate Smith


14. Minute of 26 September 2003


15. Telegram

Tags: Torture, Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, Nu Labour