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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Mark Townsend

Tortured to death: the 14 Cypriot men killed by British in 50s uprising

Two British soldiers on left with group of nine young men in civilian clothes
Soldiers round up students in Nicosia after a protest against British treatment of leaders calling for union of Cyprus with Greece in 1956. Photograph: Bettmann Archive

At least 14 Cypriots were tortured then murdered by UK forces during an armed uprising in the late 1950s, according to newly unearthed evidence that raises fresh questions over another shocking chapter of Britain’s colonial history.

Testimony from British veterans and Cypriot rebel fighters, along with postmortem and morgue records, as well as previously undisclosed material from Cypriot archives, suggest that the victims died after being interrogated by UK officers. The dead, all men aged between 17 and 37, were arrested on suspicion of being part of the National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters, a paramilitary organisation known as EOKA, which orchestrated a guerrilla campaign to overthrow British control in Cyprus.

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