London, August 14: Britain has ruled out an inquiry into allegations that its intelligence agencies were involved in torturing terror suspects abroad, including countries like Pakistan.
“We do not support calls for an inquiry,” a Downing Street spokesman said. “We believe that an inquiry is not necessary”, he was quoted as saying by the Telegraph.
The government stand follows a report by the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee which cleared the British intelligence agencies of any involvement in torture.
Head of MI6, Sir John Scarlett, has also said in an interview that none of his intelligence officers were involved in torture.
“Our officers are as committed to the values and the human rights values of liberal democracy as anybody else.
They also have the responsibility of protecting the country against terrorism and these issues need to be debated and understood in that context,” Scarlett told BBC.
The Metropolitan Police are examining whether MI5, British internal intelligence agency, was guilty of sending questions to the CIA to be asked of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident. Mohamed has alleged that he was tortured by CIA while being held in Morocco and Pakistan, according to media reports.
There is an growing demand for an independent inquiry by human rights groups after Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Foreign Secretary David Miliband earlier admitted that it was “not possible to eradicate all risk” that foreign allies had mistreated terrorism suspects.
Last week a committee of MPs and peers had said that the Government had not properly investigated the claims and called for an independent inquiry.
–PTI