UK's secret policy on torture revealed [View All]

Source: Guardian (UK)

UK's secret policy on torture revealed

Exclusive: Document shows intelligence officers instructed to weigh importance of information sought against pain inflicted


A top-secret document revealing how MI6 and MI5 officers were allowed to extract information from prisoners being illegally tortured overseas has been seen by the Guardian.

The interrogation policy – details of which are believed to be too sensitive to be publicly released at the government inquiry into the UK's role in torture and rendition – instructed senior intelligence officers to weigh the importance of the information being sought against the amount of pain they expected a prisoner to suffer. It was operated by the British government for almost a decade.

A copy of the secret policy showed senior intelligence officers and ministers feared the British public could be at greater risk of a terrorist attack if Islamists became aware of its existence.

One section states: "If the possibility exists that information will be or has been obtained through the mistreatment of detainees, the negative consequences may include any potential adverse effects on national security if the fact of the agency seeking or accepting information in those circumstances were to be publicly revealed.


Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/aug/04/uk-allowed-interrogate-tortured-prisoners

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This will come as no surprise to those familiar with Northern Ireland.