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October 20, 2005

MI5 officially admits they use torture evidence

Channel 4 News has published a MI5 statement on the use of information extracted by torture.

Channel 4 News has obtained evidence from the boss of MI5, submitted to the House of Lords, which lawyers say makes the claim that 'torture works' in obtaining evidence against suspected terrorists.

Eliza Manningham-Buller gave her submission to hearing on the use of torture to obtain evidence.

"In some cases, it may be apparent to the Agencies that the intelligence has been obtained from individuals in detention ("detainee reporting"), though, even then, the Agencies will often not know the location or details of detention. "

"... experience proves that detainee reporting can be accurate and may enable lives to be saved."

Citing a specific case, Manningham-Buller said;

"No inquiries were made of ... the precise circumstances that attended their questioning of [Mohammed] Meguerba. In any event, questioning of Algerian liaison about their methods of questioning detainees would almost certainly have been rebuffed and at the same time would have damaged the relationship to the detriment of our ability to counter international terrorism."

The full document can be read and downloaded here: Statement of Elizabeth Manningham Buller (pdf).

The news report can be watched here

Posted by andrew on October 20, 2005 8:34 PM in the category UK Policy