| Synopsis: |
There have been a number of reports that UK security services have been complicit in the torture of UK nationals held in Pakistan and elsewhere. Complicity in torture is a direct breach of the UK's international human rights obligations. In the Committee's view, complicity in torture exists where a state: asks a foreign intelligence service known to use torture to detain and question an individual; provides information to a foreign intelligence service known to use torture; gives questions to a foreign intelligence service to put to a detainee who has been, is being, or is likely to be tortured; sends interrogators to question a detainee who is known to have been tortured; has intelligence personnel present at an interview with a detainee in a place where he is being, or might have been, tortured; and/or, systematically receives information known, or thought likely, to have been obtained from detainees subjected to torture. The Committee's conclusions and recommendations include the following: the Government appears to have been determined to avoid parliamentary scrutiny on this issue.The Government must take measures to improve the system of accountability for the intelligence and security services. The Government should aim to make the Intelligence and Security Committee a proper parliamentary select committee with independent advice and reporting to Parliament, not the Prime Minister. The Government should publish all versions of guidance given to intelligence and security service personnel about detaining and interviewing individuals overseas and make public all relevant legal opinions provided to ministers. There should be an independent inquiry into the allegations. |