Allegations that British intelligence officers were complicit in the torture of UK nationals should be subject to an independent inquiry, says a UK parliamentary report published Tuesday.

The report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) looked into allegations concerning seven British nationals detained abroad on suspicion of terrorist involvement. It also heard evidence from former British Ambassador Craig Murray, who testified that Britain knowingly received information from Uzbekistan, via the CIA, that had been elicited by torture.

The report was prompted by newspaper articles claiming that the British secret service, MI5, had exchanged information on terrorist suspects being held in Pakistan and Egypt.

The London based Guardian newspaper reported that at least 11 British nationals detained in Pakistan were questioned by British intelligence officers after and, in some cases, between periods of mistreatment.
 

‘Action is required’
David Hannay is a former British Ambassador to the United Nations and a member of the House of Lords.

Although not on the Joint Committee, earlier this year Lord Hannay and several other British peers wrote an open letter calling for an independent enquiry into the allegations. He welcomed the report’s findings, saying,

"Those of us who signed that letter felt very strongly that action was required. The British government along with many other European countries are very solemnly bound by a number of international obligations and we spend a lot of time in the West saying other countries not in the West ought also to be bound by them….But we can't expect that to have much effect on those countries if we ourselves don't investigate really rigorously any allegations that we have stepped out of line."
 
Complicit
Nowhere is it alleged that British agents were directly involved in torturing suspects, but according to the committee report, that doesn’t necessarily mean the UK isn’t complicit in the torture carried out by foreign intelligence services.
 
Evan Harris is a British member of parliament and serves on the human rights committee:
“While for individuals the definition of complicity might involve some active participation, when it comes to countries’ obligations, it’s an entirely different matter. A case can be made that complicity involves being a market, being a receiver on a regular basis of intelligence. And we’ve never go the government to accept that they’re not complicit in respect of regularly receiving intelligence, the provenance of which is at least uncertain and likely in many cases to have come from torture.”
 
The committee concluded that the allegations being brought against MI5 meet this standard and said that "there is now no other way to restore public confidence in the intelligence services than by setting up an independent inquiry".
 
Lord Hannay agrees:
"I think it’s a terrible situation if attempts seem to be being made to sweep the matter under the carpet and ignore allegations of this sort. It may well be that the allegations are unproven and shown to be inaccurate. That would be one outcome which would of course be beneficial to Britain’s reputation. The other outcome, that they’re shown to be true in the short term would be damaging, but I believe far less damaging than if true events were hushed up and these practices continued."

The report also criticises government ministers and the head of MI5 for refusing to testify before the committee.
 
'Inquiry not necessary'
Britain’s Home Office (interior ministry) issued a statement in response to the report saying:

“The Government unreservedly condemns the use of torture as a matter of fundamental principle and works hard with its international partners to eradicate this abhorrent practice worldwide. The Government’s clear policy is not to participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or inhuman or degrading treatment for any purpose. The allegations in the report are not new and we have responded to them in the past. For these reasons, we continue to believe that an independent inquiry is not necessary.”

Lead photo by Quin Ryan Mattingly on Flickr.com