Gibson Inquiry must be strengthened if it’s to thoroughly investigate UK complicity in Libya torture
Yet more damning revelations relating to alleged UK complicity in the torture of detainees held overseas have emerged in secret papers discovered in Libya.
The documents, found in Tripoli by Human Rights Watch workers and analysed by journalists, are said to strongly implicate the UK security services – despite their repeated assurances to the contrary – in the rendition to and interrogation of detainees in countries where they faced torture.
Now, more than ever, the government must revisit the proposed Terms of Reference and protocol for the upcoming Detainee Inquiry, to be led by Sir Peter Gibson, which in its current form does not have the “credibility or transparency” to expose the truth of the ever-growing catalogue of allegations of complicity in torture by the government and security services.
Reacting to the fresh allegations, Freedom from Torture CEO Keith Best, said:
If proven, these new revelations of people having been unlawfully transferred to Libya with assistance from the UK and tortured by the Gaddafi regime, make a mockery of the claims from the intelligence agencies that the UK has not been complicit in rendition operations mounted by the US.
“Would these papers have ever been disclosed to the public if they had not been found in Tripoli by an NGO? The Prime Minister has said that the ‘Detainee Inquiry’ is “well placed” to investigate the new allegations. However, when it set this inquiry up, the government reserved for itself the final say on what evidence may be published and it is not clear that it would ever have cleared highly embarrassing papers such as these for disclosure. To be effective, the inquiry must give the public confidence that the right balance will be struck between transparency and protecting the national security interests of the country. This means that the last word on disclosure must rest with Sir Peter Gibson as chair of the inquiry.
“Last month Freedom from Torture, along with nine other human rights organisations and the lawyers for former detainees whose claims the inquiry has been set up to investigate, made it clear that we could not participate in such a flawed process which has essentially been set up to fail before it even begins. The government must revisit the inquiry’s protocol on evidence if they have any hope in restoring its credibility. The allegations of complicity in torture are becoming ever more complex and it is essential that the inquiry be granted sufficient powers and resources to mount an independent and thorough investigation.
“The British public has the right to know the truth and no politician or intelligence official should be allowed to escape accountability for the damage inflicted upon the victims or to the integrity of the UK’s reputation abroad.”
Of the allegations being made, one newspaper reported today that a secret CIA paper shows that Britain ‘ran their own ‘rendition to torture’ operation’. The Guardian named Abu Munthir as the victim of Britain and Libya working together to arrange for him to be removed from Hong Kong to Tripoli.
Meanwhile, correspondence reportedly between the head of counter-terrorism at MI6 and Gaddafi’s intelligence chief, Musa Kusa, was revealed, indicating British assistance in the rendition of Abdel Hakim Belhadj – now head of the Tripoli Military Council – into the hands of the Libyan intelligence services where he says he was regularly tortured.
