The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the PSNI decision in 2014 to discontinue their investigation into allegations of torture against the so-called ‘hooded men’ to be unlawful.

The ‘hooded men’ were 14 people who were selected for extreme interrogation techniques during internment in the North in 1971, when a total of 350 people were held without trial.

The Supreme Court decision follows a three-day hearing before the court in June of this year.

The judgment characterises the treatment of the men as torture, by 2021 standards.

Decision goes further than ECtHR

In 1978, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that the UK had carried out inhuman and degrading treatment, but did not describe it as torture.

The 14 men who had been selected for interrogation were held at Ballykelly Army Camp in Co Derry, and were hooded, placed in stress positions, subjected to sustained noise, and denied food, water and sleep.

The UK Supreme Court ruling states: “This treatment was administered as a matter of deliberate policy by the law-enforcement agencies of the state. Those who administered it were acting under orders and were trained as to how it should be inflicted. 

‘Ministerial authorisation’

“It was authorised at a very high level, including ministerial authorisation, and was, therefore, an administrative practice of the state,” the judgment reads.

The Supreme Court quashed the decision not to investigate the case, holding that it was “irrational” and “defective” because it was unreasonably narrow.

“The upshot is that the decision taken by the PSNI on 17 October 2014, on the basis of such a seriously-flawed report, was irrational and should not be allowed to stand,” the judgment rules.

‘Landmark victory’

Darragh Mackin, solicitor for applicant Francis McGuigan, and the majority of the hooded men, said: “Today’s decision is a landmark victory for the hooded men.

“Since 2014, they have actively contested the decision by the PSNI not to investigate the allegations of torture. It was always clear that the initial investigation by the PSNI was nothing more than a window-dressing exercise which only sought to pay lip service to the term ‘investigation’.

“The hooded men have also known that the treatment inflicted on them was that of torture.

‘Standards applicable today’

“Today, the Supreme Court has confirmed that the techniques to which our clients were subject to can, and indeed must, be characterised by the standards applicable today, as that of ‘torture’,” he said.

He added that the ruling was a welcome vindication for his clients, who had fought for justice tirelessly for seven years.

In 2014, the Irish Government asked the ECtHR to look again at the case after an RTÉ documentary showed that several British ministers knew of the interrogation methods.

In 2018, the ECtHR rejected the request, as well as a subsequent appeal by the Irish Government.