UK ‘may have been complicit in rendition’

Successive British governments have always said they were never complicit in illegal rendition and torture but that may not be the case.

The BBC has obtained documents that suggest that MI6 was involved in the rendition of Abdel Hakim Belhaj who was believed to be helping recruit British jihadis for Iraq.

The BBC also now understands that the British government authorized MI6’s intervention in tipping off its foreign intelligence partners as to the whereabouts of Mr Belhaj which subsequently led to his rendition, imprisonment and alleged torture in Libya.

Peter Taylor explained that in 2004, Mr Belhaj was then the leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group and MI5 believed it was close to Al Qaeda and was involved in recruiting young Muslims in Britain to fight Jihad in Iraq.

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