Nicholas John Andrew Langman (born 1960) is an officer for the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

secret service organisation

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

. Langman was also implicated in the various MI6-scenarios related to

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

. UK authorities issued censorship orders forbidding the press from publishing his name. During 2005, he was the head of

at the British Embassy in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. In December 2005, the Greek newspaper

Proto Thema ''Proto Thema'' (, ) is a Greek newspaper, published every Sunday. It was founded in 2005 by Themos Anastasiadis, Makis Triantafyllopoulos, and Tassos Karamitsos. It has also English version website. In late December 2005, the newspaper broke ...

reported that Langman had taken part in the Greek intelligence service's

kidnapping Kidnapping or abduction is the unlawful abduction and confinement of a person against their will, and is a crime in many jurisdictions. Kidnapping may be accomplished by use of force or fear, or a victim may be enticed into confinement by frau ...

and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

of 28 men of Pakistani origin. The

US Embassy in London The Embassy of the United States of America in London is the diplomatic mission of the United States in the United Kingdom. Its office is located in Nine Elms and is the largest American embassy in Western Europe and the focal point for events ...

clarified statements made by Ambassador

Robert Tuttle Robert Holmes Tuttle (born August 4, 1943) is a businessman specializing in car dealerships. He was the List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Kingdom, United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom from July 2005 to February 2009 ...

, who told

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Radio 4 Today that there was no evidence that suspects had been transferred to

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

under a " special rendition". While acknowledging reports of rendition to Syria, the embassy declined to comment further. News outlets in more than 50 countries published the news, provoking a strong reaction from the British

ministry of foreign affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

, which forbade the British media from publishing any personal information regarding the identity of the three agents. The French newspaper

Libération (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968 in France, May 1968. Initially positioned on the far left of Fr ...

titled “Barbaric interrogations in Greece” and

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

“A case of illegal interrogations of Pakistani immigrants in Greece puts London and Athens in a difficult position”. “After the Americans, the British?” the Monde wrote, noting that the case had implications for “Greek Prime Minister and Anglophile

Kostas Karamanlis Konstantinos A. Karamanlis (; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis (, ), is a Greek retired politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece, prime minister of Greece from 2004 to 2009. He was also president of the Centr ...

, who has studied in Britain”. In an interview he gave to a newspaper, Karamanlis as “the head of the Greek Right had assured that the fight against terrorism must not weaken the

Charter of the United Nations The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the United Nations (UN). It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the Secretariat, the G ...

and

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

”. Although British media were forbidden from revealing Langman's name, by the standing

D-Notice In the United Kingdom, D-Notices, officially known since 2015 as DSMA-Notices (Defence and Security Media Advisory Notices), are official requests to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national sec ...

against printing the names of serving intelligence officers, on 30 December 2005 the British Newspaper '' The Morning Star'' ran a front-page article naming him. In its 7 January 2006 edition, the British Newspaper ''

Socialist Worker ''Socialist Worker'' is the name of several newspapers currently or formerly associated with the International Socialist Tendency (IST). It is a weekly newspaper published by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United Kingdom since 1968, a ...

'' also named him. The British satirical magazine

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

also named Langman in its January 2006 edition. Langman was appointed Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(CMG) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to British foreign policy.

Notes

External links

"HM Diplomatic Service Overseas Reference List"
– July/August 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Langman, Nicholas 1960 births Living people English spies MI6 personnel Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George