BRITISH PRIME minister David Cameron yesterday announced the setting up of a judicial inquiry into whether British intelligence agencies colluded in the torture of terrorist suspects aboard.
He said the agencies, who are trying to defend themselves against the allegations, are “paralysed by paperwork”.
The judicial inquiry is to be established later this year once criminal investigations into a number of the allegations made by former Guantánamo Bay prisoners and civil compensation cases are completed, Mr Cameron told the House of Commons.
Emphasising that the allegations are not proven, he went on: “Today, we do face a totally unsatisfactory situation. Our services are paralysed by paperwork as they try to defend themselves in lengthy court cases with uncertain rules. Our reputation as a country that believes in human rights, justice, fairness and the rule of law – indeed for much of what the services exist to protect – risks being tarnished.
“Public confidence is being eroded with people doubting the ability of our services to protect us and questioning the rules under which they operate. And terrorists and extremists are able to exploit these allegations for their own propaganda. [We] all believe it is time to clear this matter up once and for all,” Mr Cameron said, adding “so we can make sure the security services can get on, do their job and keep us safe.”
The inquiry, to be headed by the commissioner for the intelligence service and former Court of Appeal judge Peter Gibson, will investigate whether the agencies should have “realised sooner” what foreign agencies were doing that “may have been unacceptable”, and whether the British agencies allowed “our own high standards to slip – either systemically or individually”, he said.
The inquiry, which will have 12 months to report and will hear much of the evidence in secret, will have sight of “all relevant government papers, including those held by the intelligence services”.
However, no one should be “naive or starry-eyed” about the challenges facing MI5 and MI6 after 9/11. “There was a real danger that terrorists could get their hands on a dirty bomb, chemical and biological weapons – or even worse. Threat levels had been transformed. The urgency with which we needed to protect our citizens was pressing.”
Foreign secretary William Hague said no one has made any substantiated allegations that British agents carried out torture themselves after 9/11.
“They [the security services] welcome [the inquiry], we’ve worked with them closely of course in putting this proposal together. This gives them the opportunity to put their side of events.”