Libyan papers show UK worked with Gaddafi in rendition operation

by editor | 5th September 2011 8:12 am

Post Views: 15

Loading

A secret CIA document shows that British and Libyans worked together to arrange the removal of a terror suspect to Tripoli
Ian Cobain
, and Martin Chulov in Tripoli
MI6 building, London
Documents found in Tripoli suggest that MI6 enjoyed a close relationship with Gaddafi’s intelligence services. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian
Evidence that British intelligence agencies mounted their own “rendition” operation in collaboration with Muammar Gaddafi’s security services has emerged with the discovery of a cache of Libyan government papers in an abandoned office building in Tripoli.
A secret CIA document found among the haul shows that the British and Libyans worked together to arrange for a terrorism suspect to be removed from Hong Kong to Tripoli – along with his wife and children – despite the risk that they would be tortured. The wording of the document suggests the CIA was not involved in the planning of the rendition operation, but was eager to become engaged during its execution and offered financial support.
Other papers found in the building suggest MI6 enjoyed a far closer working relationship with Gaddafi’s intelligence agencies than has been publicly known, and was involved in a number of US-led operations that also resulted in Islamists being consigned to Gaddafi’s prisons.
On Sunday, one of the victims, Abdul Hakim Belhaj – now commander of the anti-Gaddafi militia in Tripoli – demanded an apology from London and Washington and said he was considering suing over his rendition to Tripoli and subsequent torture.
For several years, senior MI5 and MI6 officers have sought to deny that their agencies have been guilty even of complicity in the rendition operations mounted by the US after 9/11, and the subsequent torture of the victims.
The discovery of the papers suggests that on one occasion, at least, the British ran their own “rendition to torture” operation. The victim was named by the CIA as Abu Munthir. He is thought to have been a man who used this nom de guerre while living in the UK, where he is said to have encouraged a group of British Muslims to mount a bomb attack on an unspecified target in the south-east of England. The plotters were under surveillance by MI5 and counterterrorism detectives at the time that Abu Munthir was detained in Hong Kong in March 2004 before being sent to Libya.
While five members of the gang were jailed for life after a trial at the Old Bailey, and a sixth received a 10-year sentence in Canada, the fate of Abu Munthir and his family remains unknown.

Endnotes:
  1. when Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Moussa Koussa defected : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/31/libya-mousa-kousa-gaddafi-foreign-minister
  2. , and at least one rendition victim, Ibn Sheikh al-Libi, later died : http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/05/11/us-libya-prisoner-death-idUSTRE54A4WU20090511
  3. tried, unsuccessfully,: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/10/binyam-mohamed-torture-ruling-evidence
  4. a defence that was accepted: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/20070725_isc_final.pdf
  5. that Abu Munthir had encouraged members of the group to mount attacks in the UK, rather than wage jihad in Afghanistan.: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article699048.ece

Source URL: https://globalrights.info/2011/09/libyan-papers-show-uk-worked-with-gaddafi-in-rendition-operation/