British government abandons plans for "torture" inquiry

Jan 18, 2012, 13:50 GMT

London - The British government Wednesday cancelled a planned judicial inquiry into allegations that members of the intelligence service were complicit in the ill-treatment and so-called rendition of terrorism suspects.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke told Parliament that the judge-led inquiry, announced by the government in July 2010, would not be able to start work 'for the foreseeable future' following the emergence of fresh torture allegations made by two Libyans.

British police announced investigations into the two cases last week. While these were going on, the judicial inquiry could not start its work, said Clarke.

However, the government would still hold an 'independent, judge-led inquiry once all police investigations have concluded.'

Last week, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) announced that allegations of unlawful rendition and torture had been made against British intelligence services by two prominent opponents of former Libyan leader Moamer al Gaddafi.

'The allegations raised in the two specific cases concerning the alleged rendition of named individuals to Libya and the alleged ill-treatment of them in Libya are so serious that it is in the public interest for them to be investigated,' a joint statement issued by CPS and Scotland Yard said.

Investigations would be launched into allegations that British agents were involved in the 2004 rendition to Libya of Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi. Belhaj later became a leader of the anti-Gaddafi forces in Libya.

Documents relating to the new Libyan cases were retrieved from the rubble of the British embassy in Tripoli at the height of the fighting last year.

They are the basis for claims by Belhaj that he was tortured and interrogated by 'foreign agents' in Libya after he and his wife were arrested en route from their exile in Beijing to Britain in 2004.

Al-Saadi is reported to be claiming damages from the British government for the alleged rendition of his wife and four young children to Libya after their arrest on a flight from Hong Kong to Britain.