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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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September 11th,
2009 - MI6 Reports own Officer over Torture Allegations |
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MI6 Reports own Officer over
Torture Allegations Secret Intelligence Service referred case to attorney general on own
initiative, David Miliband reveals in letter Richard Norton-Taylor The Guardian September 11, 2009 The Secret Intelligence
Service, MI6, has reported one of its own officers to the attorney general
over allegations of complicity in torture, the foreign secretary revealed
today. David Miliband disclosed the
move in a letter to William Hague. The shadow foreign secretary had written
to Miliband about allegations made by MPs, first reported in the Guardian, of
complicity in torture or ill treatment of detainees and terror suspects by
officers in the Security Service, MI5. Miliband said the case was
referred to the attorney general, Lady Scotland, by MI6 on its own
initiative, "unprompted by any accusation against the service or the
individual concerned". "It is for the police
to investigate. The government cannot comment further both to avoid prejudice
and to protect the individuals involved. The scope and handling of any police
investigation is a matter for the police themselves." The Metropolitan police
confirmed it had been asked it to investigate "the conditions under
which a non-Briton was held" and the "potential involvement of
British personnel". The case is unrelated to
that of Binyam Mohamed, which Metropolitan police officers are also
investigating, a spokesman said. Government officials
declined to comment further on the allegations or divulge the country in
which possible unlawful activity took place. Miliband said the government
wholeheartedly condemned torture. "We will not condone it. Neither will
we ever ask others to do it on our behalf. This is not mere rhetoric but a
principled stance consistent with our unequivocal commitment to human rights.
We are fortunate to have the best security and intelligence services and
armed forces in the world." The police are already
investigating allegations of what the high court has called "possible
criminal wrongdoing" by an MI5 officer involved in the secret
interrogation of Binyam Mohamed, a UK resident who was tortured and
ill-treated in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Morocco, and Guantanamo Bay. The high court has heard in
the Binyam Mohamed case, that MI6, and its American counterpart, the CIA, as
well as MI5, knew about his secret incarceration. While MI5 operates mainly
in Britain, MI6 officers operate abroad, mainly from UK embassies. Mohamed's lawyers and media
groups led by the Guardian are asking for any evidence of collusion by the
British and US security and intelligence agencies in his mistreatment to be
disclosed. Miliband has been fighting this on the grounds that the evidence
is in CIA documents. The US has said disclosure would endanger UK-US
intelligence cooperation. Last month Hague wrote to
the foreign secretary in light of a report by parliament's joint committee on
human rights. The committee said the government
could no longer get away with repeating standard denials of complicity by the
security and intelligence agencies. It said the foreign and home secretaries
had refused three times to give evidence to the committee and that ministers
must immediately publish instructions given to MI5 and MI6 officers on the
detention and interrogation of suspects abroad. Hague asked the government
to "clarify as a matter of urgency whether you intend to instruct the
attorney general to consider ... allegations of UK complicity in the light of
the joint committee report, which documents allegations of UK complicity in
torture in respect of detainees held in Pakistan, Egypt, and Guantanamo Bay,
and in the case of Uzbekistan, raises concerns about the receipt of information
which may have been obtained through torture". External link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/mi6-officer-torture-allegations-miliband |