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Craig
Murray is the author of ‘Murder in Samarkand’.
The book is based on his time as the United
Kingdom's Ambassador to Uzbekistan until he
was removed from his post in October 2004
after exposing appalling human rights abuses
by the US-funded regime of President Islam
Karimov. In this candid and at times shocking
memoir, he lays bare the dark and dirty underside
of the War on Terror. In Uzbekistan, the land
of Alexander the Great and Tamburlaine, lurks
one of the most hideous tyrannies on earth
- one founded on cotton slavery and brutal
torture. As neighbouring 'liberated' Afghanistan
produces record levels of heroin, the Uzbek
rulers cash in on massive trafficking. They
are even involved in trafficking their own
women to prostitution in the West. But this
did not prevent Karimov being viewed as a
key US ally in the War on Terror. When Craig
Murray arrived in Uzbekistan, he was a young
Ambassador with a brilliant career and a taste
for whisky and women. But after hearing accounts
of dissident prisoners being boiled to death
and innocent people being raped and murdered
by agents of the state, he started to question
both his role and that of his country in so-called
'democratising' states. When Murray decided
to go public with his shocking findings, Washington
and 10 Downing Street reached the conclusion
that he had to go. But Uzbekistan had changed
the high-living diplomat and there was no
way he was going to go quietly.
Craig was born in West Runton in October 1958
and educated at Sheringham Primary and Paston
Grammar schools.
He graduated from the University of Dundee
in 1982 with a MA (Hons) 1st Class in Modern
History.
From 1982 to 1984 he was President of Dundee
University Students Association and he was
a member of Dundee's tournament winning Granada
TV University Challenge team in 1983.
Professional Biography:
In 1984 he joined the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office. As a member of the Diplomatic Service
his responsibilities included the following:
1986-9 Second Secretary, Commercial,
British High Commission, Lagos
Responsible for promoting British exports
to, and business interests in, Nigeria.
1989-92 Head of Maritime Section,
FCO, London
Responsible for negotiation of the UK and
Dependent Territory continental shelf and
fisheries boundaries, for implementation of
the Channel Tunnel treaty and for negotiations
on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
From August 1990 to August 1991 he was also
head of the FCO Section of the Embargo Surveillance
Centre, responsible for intelligence analysis
on Iraqi attempts at evading sanctions, particularly
in the field of weapons procurement, and with
providing information to UK military forces
and to other governments to effect physical
enforcement of the embargo.
1992-4 Head of Cyprus Section, FCO
London
Responsible for UN negotiations on the Cyprus
dispute, relations with the government of
Cyprus and for the mandate and requirements
of the British contingent of the UN force
in Cyprus,
1994-7 First Secretary (Political
and Economic), British Embassy, Warsaw
Head of the Political and Economic sections
of our Embassy in Poland. Responsible for
relations with Poland, and assisting Poland's
post-communist transition process with reference
to preparation for EU membership.
1997-8 Deputy Head, Africa Department
(Equatorial), Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Responsible for British political and commercial
relationships with West Africa, including
development issues.
1998-2002 Deputy High Commissioner,
British High Commission, West Africa Branch
Responsible for British economic, political,
commercial and aid relationships with Ghana
and Togo. In Autumn 1998 Craig Murray was
the UK Representative at the Sierra Leone
Peace talks held in Togo, Liberia and Sierra
Leone, including direct negotiation with the
RUF terrorist leadership.
2002-2004 British Ambassador, Uzbekistan
Responsible for our relationship with Uzbekistan.
He found Western support for the dictatorial
Karimov regime unconscionable, as detailed
in the rest of this website.
At the 2005 UK General Election, Craig Murray
took on Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in Blackburn
as an Independent candidate, winning 2,082
votes. |