A British parliamentary inquiry into allegations of British collusion in torture is to investigate whether counterterrorism chiefs ordered the repeated torture and rendition of a former British resident.
Speaking for the first time about his ordeal, Farid Hilali said that during his detention in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a British secret service agent visited the prison and interrogated him, knowing he had been tortured there.
Hilali said he was later sent to Morocco, where he was tortured for a further 22 days. He said he was questioned extensively about alleged extremists in the UK and about surveillance photographs taken in London.
Hilali said he believed his torturers got the pictures from Britain.
Hilali’s detention took place in 1999 and if the allegations prove true, it would make him the first known victim of alleged UK complicity in torture, indicating that the practice started before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that led to then US president George Bush declaring a “war on terror.”
Hilali, now 40, was born in Morocco and had been living in London for a decade when he went to the UAE. He said that after he was detained he was repeatedly beaten on the soles of his feet, given electric shocks while blindfolded, and handcuffed, kicked and beaten.
The former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg said that in the summer of 1999 an MI5 officer interviewed him about Hilali. The agent, identified as “Andrew,” knew Hilali was being held in the UAE, and Begg alleged this man ignored claims that Hilali was being tortured.
Under the 1988 Criminal Justice Act those who order or collude in torture can be jailed for life. They have a defense if they can show they had lawful authority.
A member of the House of Commons foreign affairs select committee, which is investigating allegations of British involvement in torture, said Hilali’s claims had to be investigated.
“We should invite him to give us the evidence he has,” said Paul Keetch, a Liberal Democrat member of the committee.
“If somebody wishes to send information to us ... we would give it proper consideration,” said Mike Gapes, Labour chair of the committee.
Hilali’s lawyers are writing to the committee and Scotland Yard, and the attorney general has asked police to investigate claims of British security service involvement or collusion in torture. Hilali said he would testify before any investigation.
“If I’m given a photograph I would recognize [the MI5 agent] because I can never forget that face,” Hilali said.
The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture has called for a special UN inquiry.
“The [UK] government insists that it does not condone torture, but where there are credible allegations of complicity by its intelligence officers these must be investigated, not only by our courts but also by an international body,” foundation spokeswoman Sonya Sceats said.
“It is high time the UK allowed the UN’s torture committee to scrutinize cases of this sort,” she said.
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