Scotland Yard to investigate MI6 over 'torture'

Published on Friday 11 September 2009 22:07

AN ALLEGATION that officers from the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), also known as MI6, were complicit in torture is to be investigated by the Metropolitan Police.

Scotland Yard said Attorney-General Baroness Scotland 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 Mohammed, which the Met is also investigating.

A spokesman said: "We can confirm the Attorney-General asked the Metropolitan Police to investigate a case that was a referral from the Secret Intelligence Service.

"This looks at the conditions under which a non-British citizen was detained and the potential involvement of British personnel. An investigation is ongoing."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband confirmed the investigation in a letter to his Tory counterpart.

He said the case was referred by the SIS "on its own initiative" and was not prompted by an accusation against the SIS or the person concerned.

Mr Miliband said: "The government wholeheartedly condemns torture."

Scotland Yard is already looking at claims made against MI6's sister organisation, MI5, by Mohamed, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay.

He claims officers from MI5 were complicit in his torture while he was held in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan.

Last month, SIS head Sir John Scarlett said that there had been "no torture and no complicity in torture" by SIS officers.

He said: "Our officers are as committed to the values and the human rights values of liberal democracy as anybody else."