UK court to bring no charges against MI6 over abduction of Libyans
Prosecutors with the UK Crown Prosecution Service in England and Wales are set to announce that they are to bring no charges against the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6, over its role in abduction of Libyans opposing former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
According to a report by the Guardian on Wednesday, CPS was about to announce that MI6 could be let go free despite documents revealing its role in rendition of two Libyan men and a pregnant woman to authorities working for the late leader of the African country.
A staunch critic of Gaddafi, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, was arrested in the Thai capital Bangkok in a joint UK-US operation in March 2004 and transferred to the Libyan capital Tripoli for interrogation and torture along with his pregnant wife and fellow Libyan dissident Sami al-Saadi, according to the documents released late May.
Belhaj was injected with “truth serum” and was tortured by the CIA before he was flown, along with his family, to the Libyan capital, where he was initially interrogated by British officers.
MI6 cooperation with the Libyan intelligence led to his arrest. The spy agency also updated their Libyan friends about the French and Moroccan aliases used by him five days ahead of the flight.
“I wasn’t allowed a bath for three years and I didn’t see the sun for one year,” said Belhaj (pictured below). “They hung me from the wall and kept me in an isolation cell. I was regularly tortured.”
The CPS decision in regard to the documents and their damning content could be announced as early as Thursday.
The decision would be welcomed by Sir Mark Allen, the then counter-terrorism chief at MI6, who has already been questioned over correspondence with Tripoli.
One of Allen’s letters to Libyan intelligence chief Moussa Koussa clearly demonstrated the British involvement in Belhaj’s case.
“I congratulate you on the safe arrival of Abu Abd Allah Sadiq [Abdul-Hakim Belhaj]. This was the least we could do for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built over the years. I am so glad,” Allen wrote at the time.
The new decision could put an end to the Scotland Yard’s probe into the so-called extraordinary rendition program run along with the CIA.
Moreover, It would be hailed by Jack Straw (pictured above), who served at the helm of MI6 as the foreign secretary at the time.
Investigations, underway for months, have frustrated police and prosecutors particularly because many eyewitnesses fail to recall who was responsible for the measures or knew about them.
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