Richard Haley, the chairman of Scotland Against Criminalising Communities, is urging a public boycott of the forthcoming census and calling on the Scottish government to cancel the contract with CACI, the firm sub-contracted by the General Register Office of Scotland to carry out the census, due to its prior involvement in claims of torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in Iraq.

CACI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of US contractor CACI International, which provided interrogators who worked at Abu Ghraib prison at the height of the prisoner abuse scandal.

"Of course, postponing the census would be disruptive, but anything would be better than continuing with the unethical arrangements that the Scottish government seems to believe it is stuck with,” he said.

“It's a matter of record that staff employed by CACI International interrogated people detained without charge at Abu Ghraib. They did so under US rules of engagement that permitted sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation and intimidation by dogs. SACC believes detention and interrogation in these circumstances violate international human rights norms.

"If the Scottish government won't cancel the contract, I hope that people in Scotland will use census day to say 'no' to this dirty business."

The contract awarded to CACI (UK) is worth £18.5m.

The public information provided by the General Register Office of Scotland omits to make any reference to the involvement of CACI.

In 2009 CACI told The Firm that they had provided staff to the US Army to conduct “IT and intelligence work in Iraq including interrogation services."

"Subsequently, in Spring 2004 an allegation was made that a CACI employee had been involved in the mistreatment of detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Both CACI and the US government conducted extensive investigations into the allegation but could not confirm it,” it said. 

The statement added that the allegation remained “unproven”.

"CACI have always taken this allegation extremely seriously. CACI do not condone, tolerate or endorse any illegal behaviour by its employees in any circumstances or at any time. If an employee of CACI had been found to be involved in such behaviour we would have taken swift and appropriate action. We have, and always will, hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards."

The statement stops short of denying participation in torture and abuse.

In the US, four Iraqis brought a federal lawsuit against CACI International asserting that its staff participated in torture at Abu Ghraib. The actions are currently with the US supreme court.

The Crown Office declined to raise criminal proceedings against the company when a dossier of the offences was passed to it, claiming a lack of jurisdiction, despite prior Scottish precedent that extra territorial offences could be tried in Scotland.

They later concluded that the matter could not be dealt with under the common law.

The census takes place on 27 March.