CASH FOR TORTURE

Devastating report reveals true scale of UK torture complicity Spy chiefs PAID U.S. to fly suspects to ‘black ops’ jails ... and one trip was even signed off by Jack Straw

BRITAIN helped to fund US flights carrying kidnapped terror suspects despite being told it was illegal, a bombshell report revealed yesterday.

As MPs demanded a full inquiry into the scandal, it emerged that then-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw approved a ‘completely unacceptable’ payment for one of the unlawful flights.

Parliament’s intelligence watchdog found that spy chiefs tolerated ‘inexcusable’ mistreatment of detainees in the years after the 9/11 terror attacks in 2001.

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 to another country for imprisonment and interrogation. The report, published following a three-year investigation, found:

It was ‘beyond doubt’ that Britain knew how the US handled detainees during the ‘War on Terror’;

British agents were involved in the kidnap

of dozens of 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;

But there was no ‘smoking gun’ which proved that MI5, MI6 and GCHQ deliberately turned a blind eye to torture.

Theresa May said the security and intelligence agencies ‘ regretted’ not recognising sooner the extent to which allies had adopted ‘ unacceptable practices’. But she was accused of hindering the search for the truth by preventing British agents from giving key evidence.

The new report itself risked accusations of excessive secrecy after it disguised the names of jihadis by giving them bird codenames, such as ‘Cuckoo’.

The findings will raise fresh questions about exactly what Mr 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.’

In one of the most shocking revelations, it emerged that Mr Straw authorised the costs of MI6 part-funding 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.

A note uncovered by the Intelligence and Security Committee said: ‘We are not allowed to transport prisoners back to their native countries or to make any of the arrangements. Nor can we pay expenses.’

The two suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, identified as ‘Greenshank’ and ‘Guillemot’, were targeted in a joint operation involving British spies.

Picked up in an unnamed country, MI6 played an instrumental part in planning an operation to ‘deport’ the men to captivity, said the report.

Their destination was believed to be Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

MI6 believed this to be a lawful operation, said the report. But documents seen by the committee showed ‘contrary and inconsistent views’ from UK spy chiefs on the legality of the grounds for their arrest in the original country.

Despite this, British spy masters obtained authorisation from Mr Straw to pay ‘a large share’ of the costs of funding a US plane to render them. The ‘ghost flight’, which is thought to have cost tens of thousands of pounds, took place a month later.

During 2005, MI6 agents fed in questions to the interrogations of both men but chose not to seek direct access, due to UK Government concerns about publicly exposing British involvement in ‘ forced deportations’ and detentions.

Critics said the revelation proved Mr Straw was ‘signing the cheques’ for torture.

On another occasion, a terror suspect, identified only by the codename Greenfinch, was detained travelling on a false passport in August 2002.

It is understood he was rendered from the unnamed country to the US military facility at Guantanamo Bay.

Given the UK intelligence agencies’ interest in the man, the US asked MI6 to make a financial contribution towards the plane to be used for his rendition to a third country. Emails between senior British spies indicated that MI5 was reluctant to provide funding ‘as they do not want to set a precedent in paying for threat reporting, especially if combined with difficult legal circumstances’, according to the ISC report. But MI6 pushed for the payment to be made to maintain a relationship with the US. The Secret Intelligence Service suggested to MI5 that as the payment would probably be made afterwards, it could be argued it was not specifically for the flight.

The payment and transfer took place in June 2003. The ISC said: ‘The agencies’ financing of these operations was completely unacceptable.’

Bella Sankey, of human rights group Reprieve, said: ‘This report unravels Jack Straw’s shameless spin that he was ignorant of UK involvement in rendition. In fact, he was signing the cheques.’

Mr Straw, who served as Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006, told the Commons in 2005: ‘Unless we all start to believe in conspiracy theories and that officials are lying, that I am lying, that behind this is some kind of secret state which is in league with some dark forces, and let me also say, we believe that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is lying, there simply is no truth in the claims that the United Kingdom has been involved in rendition.’

Yesterday, he said 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’.

‘The real risk of torture’

‘Completely unacceptable’

‘ 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 Jack Straw, former Foreign Secretary, in 2005