Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday announced a much-awaited judicial inquiry into accusations of British security services’ collusion with foreign intelligence agencies, including the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI, in the torture of alleged terror suspects held abroad in the wake of 9/11 attacks.
In a significant move, he also conceded the long-standing demand of former detainees of Guantanamo Bay for compensation if it was established that British agents were complicit in their mistreatment.
The three-member inquiry, headed by Sir Peter Gibson, a former appeals judge, would also look into allegations that British intelligence agencies were aware of the secret flights operated by the CIA to transport alleged suspects to third countries where they might have been mistreated.
The inquiry will start its work by the end of this year and is expected to give its report within a year.
Mr Cameron told the Commons that while there was ``no evidence’’ that British agents had been complicit in the mistreatment of detainees it was important to ``clear up’’ the air ``once and for all’’ as such allegations undermined Britain’s reputation.
"Our reputation as a country that believes in human rights and the rule of law... risks being tarnished," he said.
Mr Cameron pointed out that courts were dealing with nearly a dozen such cases and the Government was ``determined to get at the bottom of the truth’’. The inquiry would have full access to all government documents including those held by intelligence agencies, he said.
The most high-profile case relates to Binyam Mohamed, a British resident of Ethiopian origin, and a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner. Mr Mohamed, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 , claims that his American captors flew him to Morocco where he was beaten, deprived of sleep and his genitals were cut with a scalpel. He also claims that MI5 was complicit in his torture.
Mr Cameron also announced that the government was issuing guidance to the security services forbidding them from taking part in any action by their foreign counterparts that they knew or believed could lead to torture.
