Cameron rejects call to reopen torture inquiry

DAVID Cameron was under fire last night after rejecting calls to reopen a high-profile inquiry into claims that Britain was involved in the torture and kidnap of terror suspects.

He set up the Detainee Inquiry in 2010 but axed it two years later when a criminal inquiry was launched.

This centred on allegations the UK was embroiled in the abuse and return of two Libyan dissidents back to Colonel Gaddafi’s regime.

In late 2013, an interim report by High Court Judge Sir Peter Gibson found MI agents had not properly raised concerns about the use of torture for fear of offending US allies.

This month, after the four-year police probe, prosecutors ruled that no one would stand trial over claims British spies helped send Abdul Hakim Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi back to Libya in 2004.

But, for the first time, it was officially confirmed politicians knew the UK was involved in the CIA’s unlawful programme of torture flights.

Yesterday Mr Cameron rebuffed a Commons challenge from Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael to reopen Sir Peter’s inquiry. Instead, he said, the work would be carried out by Parliament’s secretive Intelligence and Security Committee, which is subject to limits on what it can see and publish.

Mr Carmichael said: ‘No MI officials or former minister will be held accountable for the renditions of Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi to Libya.

‘I call on the Prime Minister to reestablish an independent, judge-led inquiry so we can get to the bottom of this sorry saga once and for all.’

Cori Crider, a lawyer for the two Libyans at human rights group Reprieve, said: ‘Still in Britain there has been zero accountability for torture. We need a truly independent inquiry into how the Government allowed our country to become shamefully involved in CIA torture.’

Crucial papers relating to the two dissidents’ cases came to light when they were discovered in the bombedout ruins of Gaddafi’s spy HQ during the 2011 Libyan uprising.

Rendition is when suspects are flown to another country for interrogation, possibly using torture.