MI6 'turned blind eye' to torture of rendered detainees, finds Gibson report

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

MI6 'turned blind eye' to torture of rendered detainees, finds Gibson report

Richard Norton-Taylor and Ian Cobain
theguardian.com, Thursday 19 December 2013 18.28 GMT

MI6 officers were under no obligation to report breaches of the Geneva conventions and turned a "blind eye" to the torture of detainees in foreign jails, according to the report into Britain's involvement in the rendition of terror suspects.

Even when individual MI6 and MI5 officers expressed concerns about the abuse of detainees they did not pass on their thoughts for fear of offending the US, Britain's closest intelligence partner.

British officials were reluctant to question sleep deprivation, hooding, and waterboarding for "fear of damaging liaison relationships" – an unmistakable reference to the CIA.

This is the message of the 115-page report by a panel led by Sir Peter Gibson, the former appeal court judge, into Britain's involvement in the extra-judicial abduction of terror suspects who were flown in secret to prisons where they were ill treated

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/dec/19/gibson-report-mi6-detainees-torture-cooperated

[Eugene]

1. MI5 and MI6 face questions over torture of terrorism suspects

Source: The Guardian

MI5 and MI6 face questions over torture of terrorism suspects

Gibson inquiry concludes UK government and intelligence
agencies had been involved in so-called rendition operations

Former government ministers and intelligence chiefs face a series of disturbing questions over the UK's involvement in the abduction and torture of terrorism suspects after 9/11, an official inquiry has concluded.

In a damning report that swept aside years of denials, the Gibson inquiry concluded that the British government and its intelligence agencies had been involved in so-called rendition operations, in which detainees were kidnapped and flown around the globe, and had interrogated detainees whom they knew were being mistreated.

MI6 officers were informed that they were under no obligation to report breaches of the Geneva Convention; intelligence officers appear to have taken advantage of the abuse of detainees; and Jack Straw, as foreign secretary, had suggested that the law might be amended to allow suspects to be "rendered" to the UK.

After examining about 20,000 documents which outlined allegations involving around 200 detainees, the chair of the inquiry, Sir Peter Gibson, and his team raised 27 questions that they said would need to be answered if the full truth about the way in which Britain waged its so-called war on terror was to be established – and the heads of MI5 and MI6 were told they have a month to respond.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/19/mi5-mi6-questions-torture-terrorism-rendition

[JohnyCanuck]

2. So is anyone really surprised by this finding?

I know, i'm not.

K & R

Former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan testifying before Parliament about UK/US complicity in torture by the totalitarian Uzbek regime (an "ally" in the war on terror)

1 of 7

The rest of the videos in this series are available here: http://www.youtube.com/user/tonyopmoc/videos?sort=dd&view=0&shelf_id=1

[JohnyCanuck]

3. Libyan told he cannot pursue rendition claim in case it harms UK interests

A prominent Libyan dissident cannot pursue his "well-founded" claim that he was unlawfully abducted in a joint MI6-CIA operation, and later tortured, because to do so would damage Britain's relations with the US, a high court judge ruled on Friday.

The judge ruled that Abdel Hakim Belhaj could not sue MI6 and the former foreign secretary Jack Straw, even though he admitted that parliamentary oversight and police investigations were "not adequate substitutes" for a decision by a court of law.

Though the ruling, by Mr Justice Simon, dismissed Belhaj's case, it directly challenged the British government's argument that the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC) was the proper body to investigate MI6 operations involving the rendition, detention, and alleged abuse of terror suspects.

Simon said he ruled against Belhaj because American, as well as British, officials were involved in the operation – the rendition of Belhaj and his pregnant wife to Tripoli in 2004 – which Belhaj wanted a British court to declare unlawful.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/20/libyan-rendition-claim-uk-interests

[JohnyCanuck]

4. Who in Whitehall approved 'gloves-off' interrogation after 9/11?

Who in Whitehall approved 'gloves-off' interrogation after 9/11?
The Gibson inquiry into mistreatment of detainees is uncomfortable reading for former intelligence officers and ministers


Ian Cobain

snip

Gibson's inquiry was shut down by the government, but not before he had seen enough for him to pose 27 questions that need to be put to former ministers and intelligence chiefs.

It is unclear whether the public will ever see the answers to those questions. The coalition government has decided, after years of promising that the investigation would be independent, and led by a judge, that it should instead be handed to the intelligence and security committee. Human rights groups denounced this move as a prelude to another whitewash.

It may be that it is a little too late for a cover-up, however: a substantial amount of the truth appears to be out there.

We now know, for example, that on 10 January 2002, the decision that British Muslims captured in Afghanistan would be consigned to Guantánamo was set out in a telegram signed by Jack Straw.

We know that the following day, a Friday, MI5 and MI6 officers in the field received their interrogation guidance, informing them that they were under no obligation to report breaches of the Geneva conventions and permitting them to interrogate prisoners whom they knew were being tortured.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/20/peter-gibson-inquiry-torture-interrogation