Bureau wins 2012 Amnesty Award

Arguably the most important awards in the field of human rights.

The Bureau has been honoured with being awarded a 2012 Amnesty International Media Award in the Digital Media category.

Last year the Bureau won the same award for its work on the Iraq War Logs Wikileaks files.

The 2012 award was for the Bureau’s six-month investigation into deaths in police custody.

The report revealed that high-profile deaths in police custody had not been included in official statistics, that police continue to use restraint techniques that have long been known to be fatal and that questionable science was being used to deflect blame away from the police.

The investigation was published as a multi-media website, on the front page of the Independent and as a BBC Radio File on 4.  The report’s findings led to calls for an inquiry into the Independent Police Complaints Commission by Home Affairs Select Committee Chair, Keith Vaz.

Iain Overton, editor in-chief of the Bureau said: ‘Being chosen for this prestigious award two years running is a great honour. It re-inforces how important the work is that the Bureau does.  It’s also great that a relatively small organisation like ours can share a stage with media giants like the Guardian and the BBC.  Of course, the most important this is the work we did.  We hope this award will help remind the national media the importance of covering deaths in police custody.’

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