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Libyan told he cannot pursue rendition claim in case it harms UK interests
Source: The Guardian
Libyan told he cannot pursue rendition claim in case it harms UK interests
Richard Norton-Taylor
theguardian.com, Friday 20 December 2013 14.23 GMT
A prominent Libyan dissident cannot pursue his "well-founded" claim that he was unlawfully abducted in a joint MI6-CIA operation, and later tortured, because to do so would damage Britain's relations with the US, a high court judge ruled on Friday.
The judge ruled that Abdel Hakim Belhaj could not sue MI6 and the former foreign secretary Jack Straw, even though he admitted that parliamentary oversight and police investigations were "not adequate substitutes" for a decision by a court of law.
Though the ruling, by Mr Justice Simon, dismissed Belhaj's case, it directly challenged the British government's argument that the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC) was the proper body to investigate MI6 operations involving the rendition, detention, and alleged abuse of terror suspects.
Simon said he ruled against Belhaj because American, as well as British, officials were involved in the operation – the rendition of Belhaj and his pregnant wife to Tripoli in 2004 – which Belhaj wanted a British court to declare unlawful.
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Richard Norton-Taylor
theguardian.com, Friday 20 December 2013 14.23 GMT
A prominent Libyan dissident cannot pursue his "well-founded" claim that he was unlawfully abducted in a joint MI6-CIA operation, and later tortured, because to do so would damage Britain's relations with the US, a high court judge ruled on Friday.
The judge ruled that Abdel Hakim Belhaj could not sue MI6 and the former foreign secretary Jack Straw, even though he admitted that parliamentary oversight and police investigations were "not adequate substitutes" for a decision by a court of law.
Though the ruling, by Mr Justice Simon, dismissed Belhaj's case, it directly challenged the British government's argument that the parliamentary intelligence and security committee (ISC) was the proper body to investigate MI6 operations involving the rendition, detention, and alleged abuse of terror suspects.
Simon said he ruled against Belhaj because American, as well as British, officials were involved in the operation – the rendition of Belhaj and his pregnant wife to Tripoli in 2004 – which Belhaj wanted a British court to declare unlawful.
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/20/libyan-rendition-claim-uk-interests
