UK to request CIA material over Britain’s role in torture

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Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who heads the Intelligence and Security Committee, said that information could only be redacted on national security grounds in the UK.

Read more: Did the UK seek changes to CIA torture report?

Speaking on BBC1’s Andrew Marr show, Sir Malcolm said: “We are going to request the Americans – we cannot instruct the United States government but we are going to request them – not to see the whole redacted stuff because a lot of it has nothing to do with the United Kingdom but any reference that may be to the United Kingdom and United Kingdom’s possible involvement in these matters.

“If that was redacted in the public report, yes we want to see that.

We hope the same principle applies in America, that is what we have to test Sir Malcolm Rifkind

“In the United Kingdom, anything can be redacted on national security grounds and if the prime minister tried to redact one of our reports simply to prevent political embarrassment, we would refuse and we would make a huge public fuss about it.

“Now, we hope the same principle applies in America, that is what we have to test.”

The Libyan question

The most serious allegations against the UK surrounds the issue of Libya, Sir Malcolm said, adding that it was his “top priority” to investigate such claims.

Libyan politician Abdul-Hakim Belhaj claimed he was tortured under the Gaddafi regime after an alleged tip-off by MI6.

In October, Mr Belhaj from Malaysia won an appeal in his court battle against the British government.

He is suing the government, former foreign secretary Jack Straw and former head of of counter-terrorism at MI6 Sir Mark Allen.

In 2004 Mr Belhaj, then leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group which opposed Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, was detained at an airport in Thailand.

It is alleged he was tortured for several days at a prison at the airport while his pregnant wife was kept chained to a wall.

The couple were then flown to Tripoli where Mr Belhaj spent the next six years in jail.

‘Our top priority’

Asked if Sir Malcolm could get to the root of the issue following the publication of the report, he said: “The timing when we can start that, we are constrained and it is very frustrating.

“It is with the Crown Prosecution Service at the moment so we have to wait as would any public inquiry into the decision as whether to bring criminal charges against individuals in relation to that.

“Once that has been addressed, our top priority, because it has never been investigated up until now, is the allegations, the most serious allegation against the United Kingdom in this area is actually the Libyan one.

“Because that is not just ‘did we know?’ but the allegation is that people in MI6 were actively involved with the United States in getting these two people rendered back to Gaddafi’s prisons.”

‘We do not condone it’

Following a Channel 4 News investigation into Mr Belhaj’s treatment in February 2013, a Foreign & Commonwealth Office spokesman said: “Our position has always been clear – we are committed to ensuring that serious allegations about alleged UK involvement in mistreatment and rendition of detainees by other countries are examined carefully.”

The government has been clear that it stands firmly against torture Foreign Office

In regard to Mr Belhaj, the statement continued: “Civil litigation proceedings are underway, so we are unable to comment on the details of this case.

“The government has been clear that it stands firmly against torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. We do not condone it, nor do we ask others to do it on our behalf.”