A DARK DAY FOR BRITAIN
Devastating admission that Britain in the Blair years WAS complicit in kidnap and torture of a Gaddafi dissident
JACK STRAW, FORMER FOREIGN SECRETARY, IN 2005
BRITAIN endured a ‘day of national shame’ yesterday after ministers were forced to make an unprece - dented admission of the country’s complicity in torture and kidnap.
The UK’s most senior law officer accepted that Tony Blair’s New Labour government and MI6 had helped send a Libyan dissident and his pregnant wife back into the clutches of Colonel Gaddafi in 2004.
Issuing an unreserved apology , Attorney General Jeremy W right said Abdul Hakim Belhadj – a sworn enemy of Gaddafi – and his wife F atima Boudchar had been delivered to the tyrant ’s henchmen and mis - treated with the help of UK spies.
As MPs demanded a full inquiry into the scandal, Jack Straw, Labour’s foreign secretary at the time, admitted he had approved the sharing of intelligence that had led to the pair being captured and abused.
But Mr Blair stayed silent last night, as did Sir Mark Allen, the former head of counter-terrorism at MI6, who has also been implicated in the affair.
As well as Mr W right’s statement to the Commons yesterday, Downing Street also issued a letter of apology to the couple from Prime Minister Theresa May, in which said she was ‘profoundly sorry’ for their ‘appalling treatment ’. ‘The UK Government ’s actions contributed to your detention, rendition and suffering . We accept this was a failing on our part. I apologise unreserv - edly,’ the letter said.
But critics said the Government had to do more to erase the stain of Britain’s complicity in the practice of extraordinary rendition – where suspects are flown to another country for imprisonment and interrogation.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokes - man Alistair Carmichael said: ‘This is a day of national shame for Britain. We still need an inquiry to unpick who knew what and when about this disgraceful episode.’ On a day of dramatic developments: Mr Blair, who was prime minister in 2004, was silent in the face of fresh ques - tions about what he knew of Britain’s role in the scandal;
Calls mounted for a full judge-led inquiry to uncover the unvarnished truth about the shameful involve - ment of the UK in the CIA ’s barbaric torture programme during the so-called ‘war on terror’;
Ministers admitted that the ‘unacceptable practices’ of some international partners – taken to mean the US – should have been ‘understood much sooner’;
Mrs Boudchar will receive a £500,000 payout but Mr Belhadj, who has repeatedly said he would drop his long-running civil case for an apology for Britain ’s role in his abuse, would not accept a penny;
Mrs Boudchar accused Mr Blair of committing a ‘criminal act’;
Downing Street said the Government would ‘co-operate fully’ with any inquiry by P arliament’s secretive Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), adding: ‘The papers are available to them.’
Mr Belhadj, 52, a former member of the Libyan Islamist Fighting Group (LIFG), and his wife were kidnapped by the US in Thailand after a tip-off by MI6.
They were handed over to Gaddafi in the same month as Mr Blair struck his notorious ‘ deal in the desert’ with the despot. He suf - fered six years of torture in the tyrant’s brutal dungeons – during which time he was interrogated by British spies. His wife was held for four months. In his statement to Parliament, Mr W right said the out- of- court settlement included dropping claims against the Brit - ish Government, Mr Straw and Sir Mark. But he stressed that there was no admission of liability.
It is understood the UK has agreed to pay the couple’s ‘sub - stantial’ legal fees. The Govern - ment had already spent nearly £2million of taxpayers’ money on legal attempts to silence Mr Belh - adj, who said yesterday: ‘For more than six years I have made clear that I had a single goal in bringing this case: justice.
‘Now, at last, justice has been done. It is a historic day . A great society does not torture; does not help others to torture; and, when it makes mistakes, it accepts them and apologises. Britain has made a wrong right today.’
Mr Straw was last night facing growing calls to front up to an investigation over his role in Mr Belhadj’s kidnap. MI6 answers to whoever is Foreign Secretary – and at the time it was Mr Straw. In an extraordinary statement yesterday, he said he had ‘limited’ recollection of the events, but had ascertained that on March 1, 2004, he gave oral approval for ‘some information to be shared with international partners’.
But he added: ‘In every case where my approval was sought, I assumed, and was entitled to assume, that the actions for which my approval was sought were lawful. This included in appropriate cases obtaining assur - ances as to the humane treatment of those concerned.’
In December 2005, however , Mr Straw had told the Commons’ for - eign affairs select committee: ‘Unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories and that the officials are lying , that I am lying , that behind this there is some kind of secret state which is in league with some dark forces in the United States... there simply is no truth in the claims that the United King - dom has been involved in rendition, full stop.’
Sapna Malik, of Leigh Day solici - tors, who represented the couple, said: ‘The Government has rightly acknowledged that, even in the fields of counter-terrorism and interna - tional relations, there are lines which must not be crossed and which were crossed here, with devastating con - sequences for my clients.’
Cori Crider , of the charity Reprieve, said: ‘Britain lost its way when it got mixed up in rendition, but today, by apologising for its part in that dark story, the UK has stood on the right side of history.’
Unless we believe conspiracy theories and that ... behind this there is some secret state in league with dark forces... there simply is no truth in the claims that the UK has been involved in rendition, full stop
THIS was – without a shred of doubt – a day of great shame for Britain, after Theresa May apologised to Libyan dissident Abdul Hakim Belhadj for one of the darkest episodes of the post-war years.
In 2004, at the behest of MI6, he and his pregnant wife Fatima were kidnapped and flown to Libya. There, they were tortured by Colonel Gaddafi’s henchmen. So it should not have been Mrs May apologising, but those who, under the Blair government, abandoned the basic principles of a civilised society in order to cosy up to the murderous, oil-rich Gaddafi regime. And shamefully, the British civil service – in the form of MI6 chief Sir Mark Allen – was complicit.
Yet ultimately Jack Straw must take a huge share of the blame. In words he will surely regret forever, the then foreign secretary dismissed as a ‘conspiracy theory’ any suggestion of British involvement in rendition. Yesterday, they were proved to be utterly hollow.
But, most of all, the blame lies with Mr Blair himself, who – days after Mr Belhadj was handed over – signed the grubby ‘deal in the desert’ which legitimised a ruthless dictator with the blood of the Lockerbie victims on his hands. On the subject of torture, Blair – who was so quick to apologise for Britain’s role in the slave trade and the Irish potato famine – is disgracefully silent.
For years, the Mail has passionately argued for a full inquiry into this shameful episode, while the political establishment has done everything possible to stop the truth coming out.
Compare this cover-up to the way the US government brutally exposed their own amorality. The unflinching Senate Intelligence Committee report into the horrific CIA torture programme was published a full four years ago.
Yet after sustained UK lobbying, all evidence of our role was redacted from that report. David Cameron announced – but then outrageously abandoned – a judge-led inquiry.
Meanwhile, it is a mystery of the cosmos what the UK intelligence and security committee, which was charged with investigating what happened, has been doing for the last five years. Has its chairman, arch-Remainer and lawyer Dominic Grieve, been too busy trying to sabotage Brexit to uncover the truth?
So yesterday’s apology was entirely justified. A full investigation must now follow and those responsible held to account.
The Press in this country was dragged before the Leveson inquiry over the hacking of celebrities’ phones by red top newspapers. So surely the unquestionably more appalling matter of British complicity in torture merits – at the very least – similar treatment?