LONDON (AP) โ Britain’s spy agencies will face a criminal investigation into claims that intelligence shared with Moammar Gadhafi’s regime led to the torture or rendition of two Libyan men and their families, authorities announced Thursday.
Aย criminal inquiry was launched in 2008 when a former Guantanamo Bayย detainee alleged that intelligence agencies were complicit in hisย torture. The inquiry later expanded to include claims by two Libyans whoย accused intelligence agents of sharing sensitive information withย Gadhafi’s regime.
“We want toย get to the bottom of this โ not just on grounds of justice or ethicalย considerations, but because this whole saga has threatened to makeย Britain less safe,” said Conservative lawmaker Andrew Tyrie who chairs aย special committee on the practice of extraordinary rendition.
Tripoli’s military council commander Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, a former fighter in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Groupย which had opposed Gadhafi and had asylum in the U.K., claims bothย British and U.S. intelligence may have played a role in his 2004ย detention in Thailand’s capital Bangkok and transfer to Tripoli.
Documentsย uncovered during the fall of Tripoli disclosed the close working tiesย between Gadhafi’s spies and Western intelligence officials. One documentย allegedly contained a message from an agent from the British foreignย spy agency MI6 making reference to the rendition of Belhaj, also known as Abu ‘Abd Allah Sadiq.
“I congratulate you on the safe arrival of Abu ‘Abd Allah Sadiq,” the message said. “This was the least we could do for you and Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built over recent years.”
Belhaj, who said his pregnant wife was also abused, praised the decision Thursday to open a criminal inquiry.
“Iย trust the police will get to the bottom of this, and find not just theย rank-and-file agents, but those ministers who were truly responsible forย her suffering,” Belhaj said. “To this day, I cannot understand why myย pregnant wife was put on the same plane and abused as well.”
Sami al-Saadi, another Libyan who had been opposed to Gadhafi, also claims MI6 played a role in his rendition.
Theย New York-based Human Rights Watch found a cache of documents in theย abandoned office of Gadhafi’s former intelligence chief, Moussa Koussa,ย after the fall of the regime. Among them was a fax the CIA sent toย Koussa in March 2004, which purportedly showed that the agency wouldย support MI6 and Gadhafi in seeking Saadi’s rendition.
Two days after the fax, former British Prime Minister Tony Blairย flew to Tripoli to meet Gadhafi. The two were photographed embracingย and several deals were announced, including a multimillion poundย agreement for a gas exploration contract with Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oilย giant.
The visit came after Libya bowed to international pressure and agreed in 2003 to abandon weapons of mass destruction.
Still,ย Saadi, his wife and four children were bundled onto a plane from Hongย Kong to Libya where they were then separated. Saadi claims he wasย tortured.
It’s not is not clearย whether investigators could call on Blair for questioning. Formerย Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, said he did not know about the rendition.
MI6ย chief John Sawers said Thursday it was in the agency’s interest to dealย with the new allegations “as swiftly as possible so we can draw a lineย under them and focus on the crucial work we now face in the future.”
Whileย British intelligence agents will face new questions over the Libyans’ย claims, prosecutors and police said Thursday there was insufficientย evidence to prove that agents were complicit in the alleged torture orย mistreatment of former Guantanamo detainees.
The case that prompted the initial investigation was that of former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed.
Mohamed, an Ethiopian who moved to Britainย as a teenager and was initially held in Pakistan, says he was sent byย the U.S. to Morocco where he was interrogated and brutally tortured. Heย alleges that he told an MI5 officer of his mistreatment in 2002.
Keirย Starmer, Director of Public Prosecutions, said there was evidence thatย intelligence agents provided information to the US authorities aboutย Mohamed and also supplied questions for them. But, he said, there wasย “insufficient evidence to prove to the standard required in a criminalย court” that any spies provided information when they knew he was beingย tortured, or suspected he was at risk.
Mohamedย said Thursday he hadn’t expected British spies to be charged, but thatย new evidence may eventually emerge that would reopen cases.
“Ifย there is any further and wider criminal investigation … I believe itย would be completely impossible to decide that there has not been aย pattern of massive complicity by UK bodies in criminality at the highestย levels directed at other Muslim prisoners,” Mohamed said. “Myย experience was not isolated; it was part of a pattern.”
Elizaย Manningham-Buller, a former head of MI5, has said she believes the U.S.ย deliberately misled its allies over its handling of detainees duringย the so-called war on terror.
In a separate allegation ofย complicity from a former detainee, investigators also say they failed toย find sufficient evidence โ mostly because they lacked access toย witnesses and the detainee who had been held by U.S. authorities at theย Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
Someย 3,000 terror suspects continue to be held at the secretive detentionย facility where detainees lack access to lawyers. Human rightsย organizations have repeatedly criticized U.S. authorities for a lack ofย transparency and legal protection for the detainees.
“Oneย thing you read very clearly in those materials is that it is not thatย there wasn’t torture, it is not that the British weren’t involved, it isย that there are witnesses who are not available to put their part,” saidย Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer with the legal charity Reprieve whoย represents some of the alleged victims of torture and rendition.
Mostย of the torture allegations came from terror suspects who were eitherย initially held in Pakistan and Afghanistan, or sent to other countriesย such as Morocco for interrogation.
British agents were accused of passing on information about detainees but not of direct abuse.
Britainย has already made payouts to 16 former detainees at Guantanamo. Amongย those alleged to have been part of the settlements were Mohamed, Bisharย Al Rawi, Jamil El Banna, Richard Belmar, Omar Deghayes, Moazzam Begg andย Martin Mubanga.
Britishย prosecutors and police said that while there was insufficient evidenceย to bring criminal charges now, cases could be reopened if new evidenceย emerges.
A separate government inquiry into Britain’s role in the so-called war on terror is expected to begin later this year.
