British lawmakers seek inquiry into torture claims
LONDON — The British government has refused to answer questions about whether its spies were complicit in the torture of terrorist suspects, and only an independent inquiry can clear the air and restore public confidence, a committee of lawmakers said Tuesday.
Government officials say Britain does not condone or participate in torture, but officials have avoided answering specific allegations that Britain participated indirectly by obtaining intelligence from suspects who had been tortured overseas, or sending agents to visit suspects who suffered mistreatment in foreign facilities.
Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights accused the government of hiding behind a “wall of secrecy.”
“In view of the large number of unanswered questions, we conclude that there is now no other way to restore public confidence in the intelligence services than by setting up an independent inquiry into the numerous allegations about the U.K.’s complicity in torture,” the committee said in a report.
Seven former Guantanamo detainees are suing the British government, accusing the security services of “aiding and abetting” their extraordinary rendition, unlawful imprisonment and torture.
British police are also investigating claims by one of the seven, Binyam Mohamed, that the MI5 intelligence agency fed questions to his interrogators in Morocco, where he says he was severely beaten, subjected to sleep deprivation and had his genitals sliced with a scalpel.
Mohamed, an Ethiopia-born British resident, was detained in Pakistan in 2002 and held in Morocco and later at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was released without charge in February.
The British government has fought to keep some details of Mohamed’s treatment secret, arguing it could harm U.S.-U.K. intelligence-sharing if the information was released.
The human rights committee, made up of lawmakers and peers from the main political parties, said the government was “determined to avoid parliamentary scrutiny and accountability” on the issue of torture. It said ministers and intelligence chiefs had refused to give oral evidence to the committee, and had given “partial answers” to written questions.
The committee’s chairman, Labour lawmaker Andrew Dismore, said that “general assertions of non-complicity are no longer an adequate response to the many detailed allegations.”
“An independent inquiry is the only way to get to the bottom of these stories, clear the air and make recommendations for the future conduct and management of the security services,” he said.
The committee said it found no claims that British agents had ordered or participated in torture. But Dismore said there were “extremely serious” allegations of complicity. These include claims that British agents visited detainees in countries where they were tortured, and that Britain provided intelligence that led to the arrest of suspects in countries that practice torture.
The committee called on the government to follow the lead of President Barack Obama and publish the instructions given to agents about the detention and questioning of detainees overseas, as well as all the legal advice it had received on the subject.
It said the Intelligence and Security Committee, which oversees Britain’s MI5 and MI6 spy agencies, should report to Parliament rather than the prime minister, to provide “proper ministerial accountability to Parliament for the activities of the security services.”
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