The shadow of British complicity in CIA-sanctioned torture following the 9/11 attacks looms once again over the UK government. Years of efforts to conceal the extent of British intelligence agencies’ involvement in an interrogation program – widely condemned for its use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” – are set to face unprecedented judicial scrutiny. Two cases concerning detainees held at the US military prison in Guantánamo Bay will be heard in a closed session by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT). During a four-day hearing, the IPT – the body authorized to examine complaints against British intelligence – will assess allegations of MI5 and MI6’s involvement in the mistreatment of Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. Al-Hawsawi is accused by the US of aiding the 9/11 hijackers, while al-Nashiri is alleged to have orchestrated the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. The proceedings will bring renewed attention to one of the most controversial chapters in British intelligence history, reigniting questions about the UK’s role in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition and detention program.
The hearings come six years after the government halted a full judicial inquiry into the UK’s alleged complicity. According to legal submissions presented to the IPT, there is “compelling evidence to believe” that British intelligence “aided, abetted, encouraged, facilitated, enabled, and conspired” with the US in acts of torture and ill-treatment. These accusations strike at the core of legal accountability for intelligence agencies and the UK’s international human rights obligations, including those under the European Convention on Human Rights. Al-Hawsawi and al-Nashiri, both classified as “high-value detainees” by the CIA, endured systematic torture and abuse in secret CIA prisons in the early 2000s. In 2006, they were transferred to Guantánamo, where they face capital charges. Neither case has yet proceeded to trial before the US military commission system.