Britain complicit in ‘terror war’ torture
UK helped US and was involved in suspects’ kidnap
BRITAIN helped to fund US flights carrying kidnapped terror suspects despite being told it was illegal, a bombshell report revealed yesterday.
As British MPs demanded a full inquiry into the scandal, it emerged that Jack Straw, then-foreign secretary, approved a ‘completely unacceptable’ payment for one of the unlawful flights.
The UK parliament’s intelligence watchdog found spy chiefs tolerated ‘inexcusable’ mistreatment of detainees in the years after the 2001 9/11 terror attacks.
The UK continued to help the United States round up alleged extremists even though they knew they were at risk of being tortured, according to the committee of MPs and peers.
The explosive 152-page dossier laid bare Britain’s complicity in torture and ‘extraordinary rendition’ – where suspects are flown Facing questions: Jack Straw to another country for imprisonment and interrogation. The report, published following a three-year investigation, found:
÷ It was ‘beyond doubt’ Britain knew how the US handled detainees during the ‘War on Terror’;
÷ UK agents were involved in kidnapping suspects, including threatening detainees and looking on as they were tortured;
÷ There was no evidence UK personnel directly mistreated detainees, but they did make verbal threats in nine cases and twice gave ‘consent’ to torture;
÷ Two detainees were aboard ‘ghost flights’ which passed through the British territory of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean;
÷ Labour ministers failed to press US officials to end the abuse of suspects.
British prime minister Theresa May yesterday said the security and intelligence agencies ‘regretted’ not recognising sooner the extent to which allies had adopted ‘unacceptable practices’.
The findings will raise fresh questions about exactly what Tony Blair and Mr Straw knew as they helped the US in its fight against global terrorism.
The report covers the period after 2001, when the US and UK invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as rounding up terror suspects around the world and detaining them for interrogation.
In three cases, MI5 or MI6 made, or offered to make, a financial contribution to the US to conduct a rendition to another country.
The report said: ‘Given the countries concerned, these can be described as “extraordinary renditions” due to the real risk of torture.’
It also emerged that Mr Straw authorised the costs of MI6 partfunding a US rendition plane to transport two terror captives to a ‘black site’ prison in September 2004. But the green light came three years after guidance to the security services that it was ‘unable legally’ to take part in the rendition of foreign prisoners in case they faced torture.
Mr Straw said yesterday the report contained ‘much about the activities and the approach of these agencies of which I was not aware before’.
He said the findings showed that ‘where I was involved in decisions, I consistently sought to ensure that the UK did act in accordance with its long stated policies, and international norms’.