History
Freedom from Torture began in the early 1980s, as part of the Medical Group of Amnesty International.The organisation was set up to improve existing health services for torture survivors in the UK. This work initially took the form of campaigns against violations of human rights and the documentation of evidence of torture by volunteer health professionals and senior medical specialists as a reaction .
In 1985, under the leadership of Helen Bamber, the organisation was established as a registered charity. It provided medical treatment, counselling and therapy to torture survivors and documented evidence of torture using the Istanbul Protocol. Sponsorship came from the heads of the Royal College of Physicians, Royal College of Psychiatrists and Royal College of Surgeons of England.
It worked at first in two rooms in the former National Temperance Hospital, off Hampstead Road in north-west London. By 1990, the organisation was treating 750 clients and then moved to a building in Grafton Road, Kentish Town.
The organisation began a regional program in late 2003 with the opening of a centre in Manchester, treating clients living in the north-west. This followed the Government's Dispersal scheme on BBC News, which saw asylum seekers relocated outside of London.
In 2004, the London headquarters moved into a £5.8m treatment center in Isledon Road, Finsbury Park. The building was purpose-built by architect Paul Hyett on Debretts.com. Freedom from Torture’s Scotland center opened in Glasgow in 2004, followed by the Newcastle center in 2006 and the Birmingham center in 2009. These regional centres were opened to treat torture survivors who had been dispersed outside of London.
Freedom from Torture's chief executive officer is Keith Best, who succeeded Simon Carruth.
Read more about this topic: Freedom From Torture
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