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Ian Cobain

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Ian Cobain
Born1960 (age 63–64)
Liverpool,England
NationalityBritish
OccupationJournalist

Ian Cobain(born 1960) is a British journalist. Cobain is best known for hisinvestigative journalisminto human rights abuses committed by the British government post-9/11,[1]the secrecy surrounding the British state[2]and the legacy of the Northern Ireland'sTroubles.[3][4][5][6]

Early life

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Ian Cobain was born in 1960 inLiverpool,England, and lives with his wife and two children in London.[1]

Journalism

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A journalist since the early 1980s, Cobain was the senior investigative reporter for British newspaperThe Guardianuntil August 2018.[citation needed]

He has reported on six wars,[7]including thewar in the Gulf,and thewarsinAfghanistan[8]andIraq.[9]In September 2005, he revealed that theBritish governmenthad been supporting theCIA's"extraordinary rendition" programme.[10]In 2006, he joined theBNPas part of anundercover investigation,he ended up being appointedcentral Londonorganiser for the party, a position he swiftly resigned.[11][12]

Cobain published a book in 2012,Cruel Britannia,which documented the British government's use of torture in the last 70 years.[13][14][15][16][17]David Haredescribed it as "one of the most shocking and persuasive books of the year",Peter OborneinThe Spectatorsaid, "Carefully researched and well-written… [Cobain] should be congratulated for addressing a subject which much of the rest of Fleet Street has been determined to ignore",[18]and theSunday Timesidentified it as a "must-read" and declared it, "a fine study of the role Britain has played in the business of torture". The book won the Paddy Power/Total Politics Debut Political Book of the Year award.[19]

Throughout his journalistic career, Cobain has taken a close interest inthe Troublesand the legacy of the conflict. As a result, in 2012, he was retained as an expert witness by lawyers seeking to overturn the murder conviction ofLiam Holden,who had been the last man to be sentenced to hang in Britain before his sentence was commuted to life.[20]Also in 2012, Cobain investigated allegations of collusion between Northern Irish police and Loyalistparamilitarygunmen who had shot dead six men in a bar in the village ofLoughinislandin 1994. A subsequent report by thePolice Ombudsman for Northern Ireland,Al Hutchinson,confirmed the findings of Cobain. In 2014, Cobain drew upon contemporary police records, witness statements and pathologists' reports to reconstruct the events of theBallymurphy shootingsinwest Belfastin August 1971.[21]A fresh inquest into the deaths was held between late 2018 and early 2020, and on 11 May 2021, this coroner's inquest found that the 10 civilians killed were innocent, and that the use of lethal force by the British Army was "not justified".[22]The 11th death was not part of the inquest.

As of 2019,Cobain was a journalist at theMiddle East Eye.[23]

Rejection from the DSEI

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Cobain was rejected from attending the 2019DSEIinternational arms sales fair inLondon Docklands,on the grounds that hetweetedmessages unfavourable to thearms tradeand DSEI, and because it was "[suspected that] he [would] not write anything positive about DSEI".[23]

Prizes

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Cobain has been shortlisted for theOrwell Prizefor journalism and won theMartha Gellhorn Prizeand thePaul Foot Awardfor investigative journalism, as well as twoAmnesty Internationaljournalism awards,[24]and, with fellowGuardianjournalist,Richard Norton-Taylor,a Human Rights Campaign of the Year Award fromLiberty,for their "investigation into Britain's complicity in the use of torture".[25]

Works

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  • Cruel Britannia: A Secret History of Torture,Portobello Books, 2012.ISBN184627334X
  • The History Thieves: Secrets, Lies and the Shaping of a Modern Nation,Portobello Books, 2016.ISBN1846275830
  • Anatomy of a Killing: Life and Death on a Divided Island,Granta Books, 2020.ISBN9781846276408

References

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  1. ^ab"Ian Cobain".Granta.Retrieved25 March2021.
  2. ^Jack, Ian(6 October 2016)."The History Thieves by Ian Cobain review – how Britain covered up its imperial crimes".The Guardian.Retrieved25 March2021.
  3. ^O'Hagan, Sean(25 October 2020)."Anatomy of a Killing by Ian Cobain review – a death that casts new light on the Troubles".The Observer.Retrieved25 March2021.
  4. ^Cobain, Ian (6 October 2013)."Ministry of Defence holds 66,000 files in breach of 30-year rule".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved21 April2020.
  5. ^Cobain, Ian (18 October 2013)."Foreign Office hoarding 1m historic files in secret archive".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved21 April2020.
  6. ^Cobain, Ian (26 March 2015)."Why is the crux of the Incedal case a secret? You're not allowed to know".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved21 April2020.
  7. ^"Ian Cobain".nctj.Retrieved21 April2020.
  8. ^"KK-FORUM: The Times: American will take no prisoners".The Times.Retrieved21 April2020.
  9. ^Cobain, Ian (20 December 2013)."Who in Whitehall approved 'gloves-off' interrogation after 9/11?".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved21 April2020.
  10. ^Cobain, Ian; Grey, Stephen; Norton-Taylor, Richard (11 September 2005)."Destination Cairo: human rights fears over CIA flights".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved21 April2020.
  11. ^Cobain, Ian (21 December 2006)."Exclusive: inside the secret and sinister world of the BNP".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved21 April2020.
  12. ^Cobain, Ian (21 December 2006)."The Guardian journalist who became central London organiser for the BNP".The Guardian.Retrieved25 March2021.
  13. ^Kampfner, John (4 November 2012)."Cruel Britannia by Ian Cobain – review".The Observer.ISSN0029-7712.Retrieved21 April2020.
  14. ^Brooke, Heather (31 January 2013)."The closed circle: Britain's culture of secrecy".New Statesman.
  15. ^Stafford Smith, Clive (23 November 2012)."Cruel Britannia by Ian Cobain - review".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved21 April2020.
  16. ^Smith, Clive Stafford (23 November 2012)."Cruel Britannia by Ian Cobain - review".The Guardian.ISSN0261-3077.Retrieved21 April2020.
  17. ^Howe, Stephen (24 November 2012)."This admirable investigation into torture in the fraying empire will overturn myths".The Independent.
  18. ^Oborne, Peter (24 November 2012)."Shameful home truths".The Spectator.
  19. ^Total Politics,Paddy Power & Total Politics Political Book Awards
  20. ^Cobain, Ian (21 June 2012)."Army 'waterboarding victim' who spent 17 years in jail is cleared of murder".The Guardian.
  21. ^Cobain, Ian (26 June 2014)."Ballymurphy shootings: 36 hours in Belfast that left 10 dead".The Guardian.
  22. ^"Ballymurphy Inquest: Coroner finds 10 victims were innocent".BBC News.BBC. 11 May 2021.Retrieved11 May2021.
  23. ^abAkkad, Dania (7 November 2019)."'See if he chases': Why Ian Cobain was actually banned from covering UK arms fair ".Middle East Eye.Archivedfrom the original on 9 November 2019.Retrieved9 November2019.
  24. ^"Silvia Casale, Ian Cobain and Malcolm Evans | On Torture".Bristol Festival of Ideas. 18 May 2013. Archived fromthe originalon 20 June 2013.Retrieved9 June2013.
  25. ^Liberty,List of previous winnersArchived19 November 2014 at theWayback Machine
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