Britain’s agreement to pay hefty settlements to former Guantanamo detainees who accused the government of complicity in their torture averts a protracted legal battle that could have compromised national security and disclosed sensitive US intelligence.
The agreement, which came after months of legal wrangling, was a first official step toward distancing Britain from the interrogation tactics sanctioned by former US president George W. Bush during the US-led war on terror.
The payout could prompt other former detainees to push for compensation in US courts and elsewhere — even though Britain admitted no guilt.
British Justice Secretary Ken Clark did not disclose the size of the settlement or who was involved, saying in his announcement to parliament on Tuesday there was a binding confidentiality clause.
However, a British lawyer with knowledge of the terms said that at least seven former detainees — all British citizens or residents — would receive payments and one man would receive more than US$1.6 million.
British spies were not accused of torturing detainees themselves, but former detainees alleged that British security services violated international law by knowing about the abuse and doing nothing to stop it.
Speaking to the House of Commons, Clarke said the government had not admitted any “culpability” in the settlement and the plaintiffs had not withdrawn their allegations.
“The alternative to any payments made would have been protracted and extremely expensive litigation,” Clarke said, adding that the government could not be certain it could “defend the security and intelligence agencies without compromising national security.”
Britain’s spy agencies welcomed the settlement, saying open testimony from secret agents could have jeopardized intelligence-gathering.
In a joint statement, Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, and its overseas intelligence service, MI6, said the settlement would allow them “to concentrate on protecting national security.”
The settlement marks a further break by Britain with US policies — both past and present.
“This is the first instance in which victims of the Bush administration’s rendition program have received government compensation of any kind,” said Amrit Singh, a senior legal officer for the Open Society Justice Initiative, a US-based think tank.
“It underscores the merits of the victims’ claims and the lengths to which governments are willing to go to avoid judicial scrutiny and the airing of the truth relating to the CIA-driven rendition program,” she said.
Britain has long opposed some of the interrogation techniques authorized by the Bush administration during the campaign against terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, saying they can produce false information as suspects eventually say anything to make the abuse stop.
One of the most striking differences between the US and Britain has been in the policy of extraordinary rendition, or sending terror suspects to third-party countries where they are interrogated — sometimes outside the bounds of international conventions.
US courts have refused to allow cases involving so-called renditions to move forward for national security reasons. US President Barack Obama said he would try to avoid sending terror suspects to countries with poor human rights records but would not rule out future renditions.
Testimony in the British cases might also have put a renewed spotlight on Bush-era interrogation tactics and forced Obama to take a tougher stance on holding Bush administration officials accountable for torture and abuse.
Allegations of torture and abuse have been widespread among many Guantanamo detainees who were held in Afghanistan, Morocco and other countries before being sent to the US prison camp in Cuba.
The most detailed account of abuse came in a court case involving former detainee Binyam Mohamed, who alleged that Britain was aware that the CIA sent him to be interrogated in Morocco, where his genitals were sliced with a scalpel.
Lawyers for Mohamed demanded intelligence transcripts to prove that Britain knew he was being abused and that any evidence US officials had was tainted. A British court ruled last year that Mohamed was subjected to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” and ordered the documents released.
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