Secret service agents accused

Posté le 12/04/2010 à 11:37 - Laisser un commentaire

Byline: Gerri Peev Political Correspondent

THE Attorney General could order a criminal investigation into fresh claims that British secret service agents colluded in torture.

Baroness Scotland is considering the claims of five British men held in Pakistan over the July 2005 suicide bombings in London and other plots, who have complained of being mistreated with the full knowledge of the secret service.

Allegations that they were beaten, whipped and threatened with rape while being unlawfully detained have been brought to light by Tory MP and former SAS soldier David Davis.

Pakistani officials have claimed British officers were 'directly involved' in the torture of the British residents.

The Attorney General is expected to decide this week whether to call in the police to investigate the security services.

One of the cases involves a medical student who has returned to Britain after being held for two months in a room opposite the British High Commission in Karachi. Two British intelligence officers questioned him near the end of his detention, he said.

The man, known only as ZZ, said he had been deprived of sleep, beaten and whipped and is still traumatised.

Four other cases are also being considered by the Attorney General, but all four of the complainants have been accused of terrorism offences.

The claims are a fresh blow for the intelligence services, following a Metropolitan Police investigation into the alleged torture of British resident Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan.

They surfaced in a report by Human Rights Watch, which has investigators in Pakistan.

Former shadow home secretary Mr Davis wrote to Lady Scotland in December, urging her to call a judicial inquiry into the allegations.

He said the current round of court cases would be halted by a judicial inquiry. 'I don't buy this idea that it would be a distraction.

I'd rather have an inquiry done properly and done once,' he said.

A spokesman for the Attorney General said she would respond to Mr Davis's letter this week and added there were 'no plans at present to ask the Metropolitan Police to carry out further investigations'.

CAPTION(S):

Claims: Binyam Mohamed