Detainee information 'stopped UK terror attacks'

Information from al Qaeda terrorists held by the American authorities has helped to prevent terrorists attacks in the UK, an official report has disclosed.

The claim was contained in a report published on Thursday by the parliament's intelligence and security committee, which is made up of MPs and peers but reports to the prime minister.

In evidence to the committee, foreign secretary Jack Straw also confirmed that Britain would make use of intelligence passed to it by other governments, even if it believed the material had been obtained using torture.

It was also revealed that UK intelligence personnel conducted or witnessed just over 2,000 interviews in Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and Iraq.

There was "fewer than 15 occasions" when they reported either actual or potential breaches of British policy on the humane conduct of interviews and the holding of detainees.

'Ghost prisoners'

In a section on so-called "ghost prisoners", the committee's report said there were some terrorists being held by the US "at undisclosed locations under unknown conditions and to whom the International Committee of the Red Cross does not have access".

The American commission set up to investigate the events of September 11, 2001 had identified 10 of these individuals,

But while human rights organisations have expressed concern, the intelligence agencies insisted valuable intelligence had been obtained as a result.

Evidence from the Security Service (MI5) said: "Clearly the US is holding some al Qaeda members in detention, other than at Guantanamo, but we do not know the locations or terms of their detention and do not have access to them.

"The US authorities are under no obligation to disclose to us details of all their detainees and there would be no reason for them to do so unless there is a clear link to the UK.

"We have however received intelligence of the highest value from detainees, to whom we have not had access and whose location is unknown to us,some of which has led to the frustration of terrorist attacks in the UK or against UK interests."

Torture evidence

British officials are barred from breaching the human rights of suspects while conducting interrogations.

The use of hooding, for example, during interrogation is regarded as unacceptable and contrary to the Geneva conventions and the laws of armed conflict.

But in evidence to the committee, the foreign secretary said the UK was using intelligence from government's with human rights standards that are "well below the line".

"One of the things that is done with intelligence that comes from liaison partners, obviously an assessment is made about its provenance," said Straw.

"Because it does not follow that if it is extracted under torture, it is automatically untrue.But there is a much higher probability of it being embellished.

"But my last point… is a real area of moral hazard which is that if you do get a bit of information which seems to be completely credible, which may have been extracted through unacceptable practices,do you ignore it?

"And my answer to that is, the moment at which it is put before you, you have to make an assessment about its credibility.

"Because, just in terms of the moral calculus, [what] if we had been told through liaison partners that September 11 was going to happen, with all the details [of how the information was obtained].

"Now,torture is completely unacceptable and [we would] query whether that was the reason why we got the information… but you cannot ignore it if the price of ignoring it is 3,000 people
dead."

Recommendations

The report concluded that apart from "limited and specific breaches" of human rights requirements, there was "no evidence that UK intelligence personnel abused detainees" in Afghanistan, Iraq or Guantanamo Bay.

But the committee said that in all future operations in which the UK is involved, ministers should be consulted before staff are deployed to interview detainees held by another country.

There was also a call for better human rights training for UK intelligence personnel.

"We have reported that on a number of occasions when UK officials informed the US authorities of their concerns,these were not fully followed up by the UK," added the report.

"All such reports should be followed up by the UK authorities and, so far as it is within their power, fully investigated."

Ministers should also be "informed immediately when any UK official has concerns about the treatment of detainees".

And UK authorities should seek agreement with allies on the methods and standards for the detention and interrogation of prisoners.

"We note that the personnel were required to operate in very difficult and unusual conditions to fulfil the UK intelligence community's duty to obtain intelligence for the purpose of protecting the UK from terrorist threats," said committee chairman Ann Taylor.

"In the vast majority of cases the US authorities were holding the detainees and access to the detainees, together with additional intelligence provided by the US, was a privilege that the US could have withdrawn.

"Based on our investigations, we have concluded that the UK intelligence personnel deployed to Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and Iraq were not sufficiently well trained on the Geneva conventions prior to their deployment nor did they know that the UK had prohibited certain interrogation techniques in 1972.

"As a consequence of this failure in training, SIS officers in Iraq twice interviewed detainees who were hooded - which is a breach of UK policy.

"Apart from these limited and specific breaches, we have found no evidence that UK intelligence personnel deliberately abused detainees."

She added that relevant ministers were not consulted before SIS and Security Service (MI5) personnel conducted interviews of detainees in Afghanistan.

"Ministers were also not informed in a timely way about the reports from UK intelligence personnel outlining potential abuse of detainees by the US authorities and we recommend that in future they are informed immediately," said Taylor.