UN condemns Britain for aiding US 'torture' flights

Published on Monday 9 March 2009 21:13

BRITAIN was condemned yesterday for its involvement in the United States rendition programme in a highly critical UN report.

Martin Scheinin, the United Nations' special rapporteur, said the US was only able to create its system for moving terrorist suspects around foreign jails with the support of its allies.

Some individuals faced "prolonged and secret detention" and practices that breached bans on torture and other forms of ill-treatment, the report says.

The UK is mentioned alongside Pakistan, Indonesia, Kenya, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Macedonia and Georgia on a list of countries that helped with rendition.

Protest groups said the report added to pressure on ministers to commission an independent inquiry into Britain's alleged complicity in torture.

Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, a former inmate of Guantanamo Bay, has accused the Security Service, MI5, of feeding questions to US agents that led him to confessing falsely to terrorist activities.

The report says countries are "responsible" if they help other states carry out human rights violations, and should limit co-operation with such countries.

The legal charity Reprieve, which represented Mr Mohamed, repeated its call for an inquiry in to the alleged role of the intelligence services in torture.

Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve's director, said: "The UN has accused Britain of co- operating with illegal renditions perpetrated by the US, and of providing intelligence to torturers.

"The government must take this international criticism to heart and, instead of merely repeating platitudes about being opposed to torture, must show that when a British agent discovers some victim in some foreign torture chamber, Britain will take action to stop the abuse."

The Liberal Democrats called on Baroness Scotland, the Attorney General, to make a decision now on whether to ask the police to investigate Mr Mohamed's allegations.

Edward Davey, the foreign affairs spokesman, said: "It is a dark day for the reputation of Britain's secret services when a UN special rapporteur lumps them alongside those of Pakistan and Indonesia for co-operating with illegal activities linked to abduction and torture."

The report also condemns use by the UK government of "secrecy provisions" to hide embarrassing evidence that it was complicit in torture.

Along with Romania, Poland, Germany and Italy, Britain is accused of using laws designed to protect national security to "conceal illegal acts from oversight bodies or judicial authorities, or to protect itself from criticism, embarrassment and – most importantly – liability".

Pauline Neville-Jones, the shadow national security minister, said: "The government must be prepared to answer the serious claims made about torture and rendition.

"Constant allegations which are not answered are damaging this country and undermining the credibility of the government's position that it neither practises nor condones torture."