In the report there was no mention of British agencies and their involvement in brutal tactics used against inmates. But it now seems like the British intelligence agencies deliberately asked not to be mentioned. As reported by the BBC, British intelligence agencies spoke to their US colleagues about a CIA interrogation report before it was published, Downing Street has said.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said there had been a conversation between UK and US intelligence services about the executive summary of the report and references to Britain’s intelligence agencies were deleted at their request from the US report.
On Thursday, the prime minister’s deputy official spokesman said: “My understanding is that no redactions were sought to remove any suggestion that there was UK involvement in any alleged torture or rendition. But I think there was a conversation with the agencies and their US counterparts on the executive summary. Any redactions sought there would have been on national security grounds in the way we might have done with any other report.”
The American Psychological Association called the details in the report "sickening and reprehensible,", reports Reuters.
Earlier, last month a Pakistani man claiming that the UK and the US cooperated in his rendition and torture, has been given the go ahead by a judge to sue the British government for his alleged ordeal. It was one of the latest cases of Britain being criticized over its treatment of terror suspects.
The UK has long denied any involvement in renditions, however back in 2008, the then Defense Secretary John Hutton did admit to the UK Parliament that the rendition of Mr Rahmatullah and another man, Amanatullah Ali, had taken place.
“Yunus Rahmatullah suffered some of the most shocking abuses of the ‘war on terror’ – now we know the Government’s attempt to avoid accountability for his ordeal is without merit,” legal director at Reprieve, Kat Craig said. “The fact is that victims of British rendition and torture, like Yunus, deserve their day in court – the Government must accept this, and be prepared to answer for its past actions.”
In the aftermath of the Senate report, the UK government is coming under increasing pressure to order a more transparent inquiry into the actions of British agencies in the US torture program.
“The US is at least trying to be honest about what went on,” she said. “To their shame, the UK authorities are still trying to hide their complicity in torture. We need to know how much ministers knew. And if they didn’t know why not?”
