British PM calls for investigation into links between MI6, Gaddafi

PanARMENIAN.Net - British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for an independent inquiry into links between the British spy agency MI6 and the toppled regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, CBSNEWS reported.

The call comes after documents uncovered this week showed that MI6 - as well as the CIA - sent terrorism suspects to Libya, where they could be held without charges and tortured during interrogation.

Both countries have said that they believed the suspects would be treated humanely in Libya, but the very purpose of such so-called "renditions" is to handle suspects outside the umbrella of domestic law and the Gaddafi regime has long been known for its brutality.

The documents were found in the abandoned office of Libya's spy chief in Tripoli and brought to light by the group Human Rights Watch.

UK government spokespeople indicated that the new allegations would likely be folded into an existing probe of British maltreatment of prisoners, known simply as the Detainee Inquiry, according to a BBC report.

One notable case is that of Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, commander of the anti-Gaddafi rebel force that now controls Tripoli. Belhaj is the former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a now-dissolved militant group with links to al Qaeda. Belhaj says he was tortured by CIA agents at a secret prison, then returned to Libya.

Two documents from March 2004 appear to be American correspondence to Libyan officials to arrange Belhaj's rendition.

Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch, which found the documents, called the ties between Washington and Gaddafi's regime "a very dark chapter in American intelligence history, and it remains a stain on the record of the American intelligence services that they cooperated with these very abusive intelligence services."