Britain’s MI5 accused of complicity in torture

Britain’s MI5 accused of complicity in torture

by aletho

Press TV - May 20, 2014

Britain’s domestic spying apparatus MI5 has been accused of complicity in torture.

A Dutch man of Somali origin, Ahmed Diini, accused the British spy agency of questioning him while he was being tortured in an Egyptian prison earlier this year.

Diini said during his eight-month imprisonment in Cairo that he was shackled, hooded, repeatedly beaten, and threatened that his wife would be raped.

The former British resident, who is also a grandson of the deposed Somali dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, claimed that the alleged MI5 agents worked closely with Egyptian security forces, promising him his freedom if he agreed to work for the British intelligence service.

The Dutch man was imprisoned for unknown reasons following the ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi.

The claim comes as the head of MI5 told lawmakers in November that his officers would never participate in or condone torture, or take part in operations where a suspect is being illegally detained by a foreign state.

This is while the Constitution Project report last year slammed Britain for violating human rights through colluding with the US in the torture and rendition of terror suspects.

The dossier also claims MI5 agents under the last Labour government knew that prisoners were ill-treated at the hands of their captors

For years, Labour ministers denied involvement in rendition. But the report pointed out that the UK had paid out around £10 million to more than a dozen detainees after they were illegally rendered and tortured.