Nicholas Langman
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Nicholas John Andrew Langman (b. 1960) is an officer for the British secret service organisation MI6.
During 2005, he was the head of MI6 at the British Embassy in Athens.
The Greek newspaper Proto Thema named Langman as being responsible for the abduction, interrogation and torture of at least 28 Pakistani nationals.
A Greek lawyer, Frangiskos Ragoussis, has filed a criminal complaint against Langman and eight Greek agents, and threatened to seek Langman's extradition.
Although British newspapers are currently forbidden from revealing Langman's name, by the standing D-Notice against printing the names of serving intelligence officers, on 30 December 2005 the British Newspaper The Morning Star ran a front-page article naming him. In its 7 January 2006 edition, the British Newspaper Socialist Worker also named him. The British satirical magazine Private Eye also named Langman in its 6 January 2006 (No. 1149) edition.
The allegations were first denied by the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, but on January 1, 2006, a Foreign Office spokesman admitted that MI6 officers were present at the interrogations but were not actively "involved in the detention, interrogation and mistreatment [of the detainees]" report.
[edit] Earlier career
In 1997, he was based in Paris and was one of two MI6 officers in the city during the night of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales [1]. His previous postings were Montevideo (1986) and New York (1988). He was posted to Paris in 1994.
[edit] External links
- "HM Diplomatic Service Overseas Reference List" - July/August 2005
- "Greece to investigate July 7 torture allegations" - Independent, UK - 28 December 2005
- "Greece urged to investigate MI6 torture link" - Guardian, UK - 28 December 2005