British intelligence 'inadvertently' helped US rendition

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No British agency was directly involved in the US policy of "rendition" for suspected Islamist militants, parliament's intelligence and security committee said in a report published Wednesday.

But the cross-party body said the security services "inadvertently" helped in the transfer of two Arab Muslim residents of Britain to Guantanamo Bay after US authorities ignored riders placed on information supplied to them.

Washington's "lack of regard" for London's concerns has "serious implications" for relations between the two countries' intelligence agencies, the committee added, without commenting on the legality of the practice.

The two men -- Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna -- were detained in Gambia in 2002 following evidence supplied to the United States. They were taken first to Afghanistan, then to the US-run camp in Cuba where el-Banna is still held.

"We are satisfied that the (domestic) Security Service (MI5) did not intend for the men to be arrested or for a 'rendition to detention' (extra-judicial transfer for detention outside the normal legal system) operation to take place," the committee said.

"Indeed when sharing the intelligence they used caveats specifically prohibiting any action being taken.

"The Security Service did not foresee that the US authorities would disregard the caveats, given that they had honoured the caveat system for the past 20 years.

"This case shows a lack of regard on the part of the US for UK concerns -- despite strong protests -- and that has serious implications for the intelligence relationship...

"In international law, it is clear that the US will take whatever action it deems necessary, within US law, to protect its national security," it said, noting that British concerns "do not materially affect" their strategy.

Human rights groups have criticised rendition and extraordinary rendition, which involves transferring suspects, often to a third country, for questioning and detention outside the rule of law because of the risk of torture.

Pan-European rights body the Council of Europe published a report last June concluding that 14 European countries colluded in or tolerated the transfer of prisoners for the US Central Intelligence Agency.

The intelligence and security committee said Britain's overseas intelligence service MI6 and MI5 had been slow to appreciate the change in US policy and should have exercised greater caution earlier.

Its investigation, results of which came as Prime Minister Gordon Brown outlined his counter-terrorism strategy, had also been hampered by difficulties in establishing facts about so-called "ghost flights" through British airspace.

It recommended that senior ministerial approval should be sought in future in such cases and a complete ban placed on approvals for renditions which could lead to suspects being held in secret prisons.

"Proper, searchable" records about flights passing through or over Britain also needed to be held in future, it added. The Foreign Office said later it had rectified those problems.

At the same time the committee said a strong intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States was still vital to counter the threats posed by global extremism.

In response to the report, London-based human rights group Amnesty International's British campaigns director Tim Hancock said they welcomed the acknowledgement that secret detention amounted to "mistreatment."

But he said it was "alarming" that British intelligence had been used to render British residents to Guantanamo Bay.

"Rendition is a fast-track to Guantanamo and we need to see the government unequivocally condemning all renditions and secret detentions," he added, calling for a independent probe and the release of all British residents there.



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