deca
26-03-2009, 06:15 PM
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5981291.ece
Metropolitan Police to investigate alleged MI5 complicity in torture
Nico Hines
The Metropolitan Police have been called in to investigate whether British spies were complicit in the torture of Binyam Mohamed.
Lawyers for the former Guantánamo Bay detainee claim that MI5 agents knew he was a victim of torture and the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” programme.
Baroness Scotland, the Attorney-General, announced today in Parliament that detectives will investigate whether any MI5 complicity in Mr Mohamed’s treatment breached British law.
If the police investigation found sufficient evidence of a criminal act by one or more MI5 agents it is understood that they would be tried in a civilian court. The proceedings would be held in secret, however, with only the verdict published.
Related Links
* Guantánamo return gives Britain a dilemma
* Terrorism and human rights: is it time to reclaim lost ground?
* MI5 to publish rules on interrogating detainees
Gordon Brown speaking from Brazil, said: “I have always made clear that when serious allegations are made they have got to be investigated.
“I have also been clear that this government does not tolerate or endorse torture.”
The Government has come under pressure to launch a full inquiry into the conduct of the British authorities since two judges revealed that they had been prevented from publishing key information relating to the case, which may have implicated the UK's intelligence services in a criminal act. It has been alleged that MI5 turned a blind eye to mistreatment and suggested lines of questioning that were passed on to foreign agents who used violent and illegal interrogation techniques.
Lady Scotland told the House of Lords today that a full police investigation would be carried out after she and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, had reviewed a “substantial body of material” relating to the case, including the testimony of a MI5 officer identified only as Witness B.
"I have concluded that the appropriate course of action is to invite the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to commence an investigation into the allegations that have been made in relation to Binyam Mohamed,” she said.
"I have expressed to the Commissioner the hope that the investigation can be taken forward as expeditiously as possible given the seriousness and sensitivity of the issues involved.”
Zachary Katznelson, legal director of charity Reprieve, which represents Mr Mohamed, welcomed the decision to investigate but said he was concerned secret evidence would be excluded from the investigation.
“For this to be a proper inquiry the police have to be given access to all the information and that includes any secret information.
“Many of the documents related to Mr Mohamed’s treatment have been classified either in the US or the UK and unless the police have access to all of them they will only see one tiny piece of the picture.”
Mr Mohamed was arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of plotting to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the United States. In the course of seven years in US custody he claims he was tortured brutally in Morocco before being sent to Guantánamo Bay.
An MI5 officer had interviewed Mr Mohamed in prison in Pakistan in 2002 and supplied the CIA with further questions to ask him. But according to Whitehall sources, the Security Service was not told where he had been taken.
An Ethiopian national but a UK resident, Mr Mohamed finally returned to London last month. He was never charged with any crime.
Mr Mohamed’s claims were originally referred to Lady Scotland by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, after they surfaced in a High Court case brought by his lawyers.
Two British judges released a damning ruling on Mr Mohamed's case last month. The judges complained that they could not release details of Mr Mohamed's alleged mistreatment and Britain's role in it, even though it was in the interests of justice, because the US had threatened to withdraw intelligence co-operation from Britain and this could put British lives at risk.
Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones added that the information they wanted to release - about 25 lines of text about Mr Mohamed's case, taken from official documents from American intelligence agencies - posed no threat to British or US security, but was potentially "embarrassing" as it did add to up to "an arguable case of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment", in contravention of national and international law.
Metropolitan Police to investigate alleged MI5 complicity in torture
Nico Hines
The Metropolitan Police have been called in to investigate whether British spies were complicit in the torture of Binyam Mohamed.
Lawyers for the former Guantánamo Bay detainee claim that MI5 agents knew he was a victim of torture and the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” programme.
Baroness Scotland, the Attorney-General, announced today in Parliament that detectives will investigate whether any MI5 complicity in Mr Mohamed’s treatment breached British law.
If the police investigation found sufficient evidence of a criminal act by one or more MI5 agents it is understood that they would be tried in a civilian court. The proceedings would be held in secret, however, with only the verdict published.
Related Links
* Guantánamo return gives Britain a dilemma
* Terrorism and human rights: is it time to reclaim lost ground?
* MI5 to publish rules on interrogating detainees
Gordon Brown speaking from Brazil, said: “I have always made clear that when serious allegations are made they have got to be investigated.
“I have also been clear that this government does not tolerate or endorse torture.”
The Government has come under pressure to launch a full inquiry into the conduct of the British authorities since two judges revealed that they had been prevented from publishing key information relating to the case, which may have implicated the UK's intelligence services in a criminal act. It has been alleged that MI5 turned a blind eye to mistreatment and suggested lines of questioning that were passed on to foreign agents who used violent and illegal interrogation techniques.
Lady Scotland told the House of Lords today that a full police investigation would be carried out after she and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, had reviewed a “substantial body of material” relating to the case, including the testimony of a MI5 officer identified only as Witness B.
"I have concluded that the appropriate course of action is to invite the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to commence an investigation into the allegations that have been made in relation to Binyam Mohamed,” she said.
"I have expressed to the Commissioner the hope that the investigation can be taken forward as expeditiously as possible given the seriousness and sensitivity of the issues involved.”
Zachary Katznelson, legal director of charity Reprieve, which represents Mr Mohamed, welcomed the decision to investigate but said he was concerned secret evidence would be excluded from the investigation.
“For this to be a proper inquiry the police have to be given access to all the information and that includes any secret information.
“Many of the documents related to Mr Mohamed’s treatment have been classified either in the US or the UK and unless the police have access to all of them they will only see one tiny piece of the picture.”
Mr Mohamed was arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of plotting to detonate a radioactive “dirty bomb” in the United States. In the course of seven years in US custody he claims he was tortured brutally in Morocco before being sent to Guantánamo Bay.
An MI5 officer had interviewed Mr Mohamed in prison in Pakistan in 2002 and supplied the CIA with further questions to ask him. But according to Whitehall sources, the Security Service was not told where he had been taken.
An Ethiopian national but a UK resident, Mr Mohamed finally returned to London last month. He was never charged with any crime.
Mr Mohamed’s claims were originally referred to Lady Scotland by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, after they surfaced in a High Court case brought by his lawyers.
Two British judges released a damning ruling on Mr Mohamed's case last month. The judges complained that they could not release details of Mr Mohamed's alleged mistreatment and Britain's role in it, even though it was in the interests of justice, because the US had threatened to withdraw intelligence co-operation from Britain and this could put British lives at risk.
Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones added that the information they wanted to release - about 25 lines of text about Mr Mohamed's case, taken from official documents from American intelligence agencies - posed no threat to British or US security, but was potentially "embarrassing" as it did add to up to "an arguable case of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment", in contravention of national and international law.