Ian Cobain (born 1960) is a British journalist. Cobain is best known for his

investigative journalism Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

into human rights abuses committed by the British government post-

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

, the secrecy surrounding the British state and the legacy of the Northern Ireland's

Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

Early life

Ian Cobain was born in 1960 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and lives with his wife and two children in London.

Journalism

A journalist since the early 1980s, Cobain was the senior investigative reporter for British newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' until August 2018. He has reported on six wars, including the war in the Gulf, and the

wars War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

. In September 2005, he revealed that the

British government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

had been supporting the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

's "extraordinary rendition" programme. In 2006, he joined the BNP as part of an undercover investigation, he ended up being appointed

central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

organiser for the party, a position he swiftly resigned. Cobain published a book in 2012, ''Cruel Britannia'', which documented the British government's use of torture in the last 70 years.

David Hare David Hare may refer to: *David Hare (philanthropist) (1775–1842), Scottish philanthropist *David Hare (artist) (1917–1992), American sculptor and photographer *David Hare (playwright) (born 1947), English playwright and theatre and film direc ...

described it as "one of the most shocking and persuasive books of the year",

Peter Oborne Peter Alan Oborne (; born 11 July 1957) is a British journalist and broadcaster. He is the former chief political commentator of ''The Daily Telegraph'', from which he resigned in early 2015. He is author of ''The Rise of Political Lying'', ''Th ...

in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' said, "Carefully researched and well-written… obainshould be congratulated for addressing a subject which much of the rest of Fleet Street has been determined to ignore", and the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' identified 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. Throughout his journalistic career, Cobain has taken a close interest in

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

and 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 of

Liam Holden Liam Holden (1953 – 15 September 2022) was an Irish man who, in 1973 at the age of 19, was sentenced to death by hanging following his conviction for killing a British soldier in Northern Ireland. He was the last person sentenced to death in ...

, who had been the last man to be sentenced to hang in Britain before his sentence was commuted to life. Also in 2012, Cobain investigated allegations of collusion between Northern Irish police and Loyalist

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

gunmen who had shot dead six men in a bar in the village of

Loughinisland Loughinisland ( , ) is a small village and civil parish in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is between Downpatrick and Ballynahinch, about 21 miles (34 kilometres) south of Belfast. History The village of Loughinisland grew up in the townland ...

in 1994. A subsequent report by the

Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland The Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland (OPONI; ga, Ombudsman Póilíní do Thuaisceart Éireann, Ulster-Scots: ''Owersman fur tha Polis o Norlin Airlann'') is a non-departmental public body intended to provide an independent, im ...

Al Hutchinson Al Hutchinson is a former RCMP Assistant Commissioner, who served as the Police Oversight Commissioner in Northern Ireland, who in November 2007 became the second Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. A graduate of Carleton University and Quee ...

, confirmed the findings of Cobain. In 2014, Cobain drew upon contemporary police records, witness statements and pathologists' reports to reconstruct the events of the

Ballymurphy shootings The Ballymurphy massacre was a series of incidents between 9 and 11 August 1971, in which the 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment of the British Army killed at least nine civilians in Ballymurphy, Belfast, Northern Ireland, as part of Operation ...

in west Belfast in August 197

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". The 11th death was not part of the inquest. , Cobain was a journalist at the ''

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''.

Rejection from the DSEI

Cobain was rejected from attending the 2019 DSEI international arms sales fair in

London Docklands London Docklands is the riverfront and former docks in London. It is located in inner east and southeast London, in the boroughs of London Borough of Southwark, Southwark, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets, London Borough of ...

, on the grounds that he

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messages unfavourable to the

arms trade Arms trade may refer to: *the global markets for any product of the arms industry *Small arms trade *Illegal arms trade (arms trafficking) See also *Arms Trade Treaty *Arms control *Nuclear proliferation * Chemical weapon proliferation *Arms race ...

and DSEI, and because it was " uspected thathe

ould Ould is an English surname and an Arabic name ( ar, ولد). In some Arabic dialects, particularly Hassaniya Arabic, ولد‎ (the patronymic, meaning "son of") is transliterated as Ould. Most Mauritanians have patronymic surnames. Notable p ...

not write anything positive about DSEI".

Prizes

Cobain has been shortlisted for the

Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...

for journalism and won the Martha Gellhorn Prize and the

Paul Foot Award The Paul Foot Award is an award given for investigative or campaigning journalism, set up by ''The Guardian'' and ''Private Eye'' in memory of the journalist Paul Foot, who died in 2004. The award, from 2005 to 2014, was for material published in ...

for investigative journalism, as well as two

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

journalism awards, and, with fellow Guardian journalist,

Richard Norton-Taylor Richard Norton-Taylor (born 6 June 1944) is a British editing, editor, journalist, and playwright. He wrote for ''The Guardian'' on defence and security matters from 1975 to 2016, and was the newspaper's security editor. He now works for the i ...

, a Human Rights Campaign of the Year Award from

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

, for their "investigation into Britain's complicity in the use of torture".Liberty
List of previous winners

Works

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

References

External links

* Nathalie Olah
Cruel Britannia: Ian Cobain interviewed
19 May 2013 * Ian Cobain's page on the

Portobello Books ''Granta'' is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centres on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and m ...

websit

* Ian Cobain's page on the '' Theguardian.com, Guardian'' websit

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cobain, Ian 1960 births Living people British male journalists The Guardian journalists