Death by a thousand cuts – Torture and Lawfare to Evade Accountability

Abstract

Drawing upon the cases of Abd-al Rahim al Nashiri, of Julian Assange and of other prisoners, Deepa will explore how the combination of torture and lawfare are being applied to deny accountability for the illegalities in the War on Terror. She will specifically cover how the judicial system and legal processes are routinely subverted by the US and the UK to deny accountability for heinous crimes while establishing a false veneer of legitimacy to state criminality.

Bio

Dr. Deepa Govindarajan Driver is a trade unionist and a member of the National Executive Committee of UCU (University and College Union). She is a member of the executive committee of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers and currently serves as a legal observer in the cases of Julian Assange, Craig Murray and Steven Donziger.

In her day job, Deepa is a university lecturer teaching financial regulation and corporate governance at the University of Reading. Her research interests are in state and corporate accountability.

Deepa is an individual expert member of FinanceWatch (Brussels) and has previously served as a regulator, banker and consultant. She provides advice to Boards, senior regulators and MPs on corporate accountability and financial regulation.