PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
EXPORT OF INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE (28 June 1995)

That this House is appalled by the Government's attempts to discredit Martyn Gregory, the producer of Channel Four's Dispatches programme The Torture Trail, via a criminal investigation by the Ministry of Defence police; notes the programme exposed the involvement of the British government and British companies including British Aerospace's Royal Ordnance in the export of electro-shock weapons that can be used for torture; notes that the film recently won Amnesty International's 1995 award for best television documentary; is shocked that the Ministry of Defence police have now made Mr Gregory the target of a criminal investigation and that he could be charged with incitement to break the Firearms Acts; notes that this offence carries a sentence of up to five years; believes that the Ministry of Defence police investigation is an attempt to cover up the Government's and British Aerospace's involvement in the electro shock torture trade; notes that the Department of Trade and Industry have been at the forefront of attempts to discredit Mr Gregory, that the Right honourable Member for Henley and the honourable Member for Wiltshire North and the honourable Member for Esher have accused Mr Gregory's film of scaremongering and making false and contrived charges; supports Mr Gregory's response to these unfounded allegations in starting defamation proceedings against the Department of Trade and Industry in the High Court with the full support of Channel Four; and calls on the Government to launch forthwith an independent investigation into the programme's exposure of the British trade in weapons of torture.

Sponsored by:
Ann Clwyd (Labour)