Hague demands Brown takes action over torture allegations

William Hague has written to the Prime Minister to ask what action he will take in response to the Joint Committee Report on allegations of British complicity in torture.

The Shadow Foreign Secretary stressed the Committee’s findings are “extremely serious”, and made clear, “We need to know whether the allegations of UK complicity contained in the report are being examined.”

He asked the Prime Minister whether he will refer any of the new allegations in the report to the Attorney General, who earlier this year launched a police investigation into allegations about the torture of Binyam Mohamed.

And he called on the Prime Minister to say whether the Attorney General is considering any additional cases of alleged UK complicity in torture.

Full text of letter from William Hague to Gordon Brown:

Dear Prime Minister,

I write to ask whether you plan to instruct the Attorney General to consider any of the allegations of UK complicity in torture which are contained in the report released today by the House of Lords and House of Commons Joint Committee on Human Rights. (HL Paper 152 HC 230 of 4^th August 2009).

In your written statement to the House of Commons of 18^th March on allegations of UK complicity in the torture of detainees overseas, you said that “if any cases of potential criminal wrongdoing come to light, the Government will refer them to the Attorney-General to consider whether there is a basis for inviting the police to conduct a criminal investigation.” (18 Mar 2009 : Column 55WS)

I understand that since March this year the Metropolitan police have been investigating the allegations about one such detainee, Mr Binyam Mohamed, at the behest of the Attorney General. (26 Mar 2009 : Column WS51).

I write to request that you clarify as a matter of urgency whether you intend to instruct the Attorney General to consider any additional allegations of UK complicity in the light of the Joint Committee report, which documents allegations of UK complicity in torture in respect of detainees held in Pakistan, Egypt, and Guantanamo Bay, and in the case of Uzbekistan, raises concerns about the receipt of information which may have been obtained through torture?

Can you confirm whether any of these allegations are already being examined by the Attorney General?

The Attorney General has declined in the past to clarify whether she is considering any additional cases, replying to my colleague Baroness Neville Jones that she “do[es] not propose to give a running commentary on consideration of the matter.” (7 May 2009 : Column WA139)

However does the public not have a right to know whether the Attorney General is considering any additional allegations? Is this clarity not important to reassure the public that these issues are being fully investigated in a wide-ranging fashion?

Therefore I hope that in response to this letter you will urgently clarify whether you intend to refer any of the allegations of complicity in torture contained in the Joint Committee report to the Attorney General, as well as how many such cases the Attorney General is currently considering.

Hague urges Miliband to bring the Binyam Mohamed case to an end

William Hague has called on David Miliband to "do the right thing" and ask the Obama Administration for the right to release information on Binyam Mohamed's treatment.

This follows a ruling from the High Court giving the Foreign Secretary one final opportunity to present evidence to the Court on Mr Mohamed's treatment. The Court will then reconsider whether it will publish those details.

William has said that David Miliband must "stop prevaricating and bring this saga to an end", adding:

"The Foreign Secretary's refusal to take this simple step is baffling and does nothing to dispel allegations of Britain's complicity in torture or the Government's attempt to cover it up."

And he stressed, "There is a need for clarity and a need to draw a line under this case."

Conservatives: We need a wider inquiry into torture allegations

Commenting on the news that the Attorney General has asked the Metropolitan Police to investigate allegations of torture in relation to Binyam Mohamed, David Cameron said:

"It is vital that we get to the bottom of whether Britain has been complicit in torture either advertently or inadvertently.

"I'm still not convinced that we will do that purely through an Attorney General or a Police investigation; I think we will need some form of wider inquiry to find out whether the right procedures and processes were in place to prevent Britain from being complicit in torture.

"We think you could get either a judge or a former permanent secretary to hold an inquiry; clearly these are sensitive issues that concern national security.

"You have to have arrangements to make sure that things that would be harmful for the national interest aren't published. But the key thing is getting to the bottom of what happened and making sure that if mistakes have been made in the past, ministers are open and clear about that and remove this potential stain from Britain's name."

(Cab Office) Alleged complicity of the UK security and intelligence Agencies in torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has today written to the Prime Minister regarding the alleged complicity of the UK security and intelligence Agencies in torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Speaking on behalf of the Committee, the Chairman, Dr Kim Howells, MP said:

"In 2007 the Intelligence and Security Committee published a report on Rendition. This considered whether the UK security and intelligence Agencies had any knowledge of, and/or involvement in, rendition operations, and their overall policy for intelligence sharing with foreign liaison services in this context. The report detailed four cases of rendition dating back to 2002 which illustrated key developments in the awareness of the changing nature of the US rendition programme. One of these cases was that of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian national."

"Since our report was published there have been a number of new developments on which, as we already made clear in our 2007-2008 Annual Report, we have been conducting further investigations over the past year. One of these developments dates from mid- 2008, when we were informed by the Director General of the Security Service that new information had come to light about the Binyam Mohamed case which had been overlooked during the Committee's original rendition inquiry."

"The Intelligence and Security Committee does not investigate individual cases - any allegations of misconduct by, or on behalf of, the UK intelligence and security Agencies are a matter for the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), which is the appropriate statutory body to undertake a full independent investigation of such allegations. This Committee's role is to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the security and intelligence Agencies. However, in this instance we considered that this new evidence had a far wider significance that went beyond an individual case, and that it raised questions about the policy and procedures that our security and intelligence Agencies follow. As such it was clearly a matter for the Intelligence and Security Committee and we therefore considered that a further detailed investigation was essential."

"As a result we have taken further, in depth, evidence from the intelligence and security Agencies, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. We have today reported our findings on a number of aspects - including the issues raised about the policies that the UK security and intelligence Agencies have followed and should follow - and made recommendations to the Prime Minister."

"The issue of whether an officer from the Security Service committed a criminal offence in relation to the case of Binyam Mohamed is currently under investigation by the Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions. The Committee will therefore not be making any further public comment at this time."