Uzbek torture hits the big screen

The Road to Guantánamo director Michael Winterbottom's company Revolution has picked up the rights to Craig Murray's memoirs, Murder In Samarkand. Due for publication in June, the Foreign Office is threatening to sue for "breach of confidence or of Crown copyright," when the book comes out.

According to Winterbottom, Murray, who was fired in 2004 "after drawing attention to torture and human rights abuses in Uzbekistan," has written his story with a surprisingly light touch. Said the director, "The book is fantastic...[like] a very funny version of a Graham Greene novel." How Murray makes extraordinary rendition and torture funny remains to be seen, but it's not hard to understand why someone of Winterbottom's sensibilities (don't forget, this is the man who made A Cock and Bull Story) was drawn to the story.

Mancunian Steve Coogan who starred in A Cock and Bull Story is said to be lined up to play Murray, but Winterbottom admits that it could take a year just to get the film "set up." (Pic SC in 24 Hour Party People as the loathsome Tony Wilson).

This will set the nerves of the mandarinate on edge. Watch this space.

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