Britain to pay compensation to tortured terror suspects under inquiry

Disclosure: David Cameron has launched a judge-led inquiry into torture cases

Britain is prepared to pay compensation and apologise to terrorist suspects who say they were tortured, the Evening Standard has learned.

The controversial moves emerged as Prime Minister David Cameron launched a judge-led inquiry into cases where the British authorities are accused of condoning or turning a blind eye to torture carried out abroad.

"It's time to clear this matter up once and for all," the Prime Minister told the House of Commons.

Mediators are now contacting up to 15 people who allege they were torture victims to try to reach out-of-court agreements which could involve cash payments and statements of regret.

Whitehall officials say Mr Cameron wants a clean break with the past and to prevent legal disputes running up huge costs and tying up dozens of intelligence officers who are vital to the fight against terrorism.

However, payments will be controversial because some of those making the allegations are convicted terrorists and individuals suspected of receiving terrorist training.

Mr Cameron announced that former appeal court judge Sir Peter Gibson will head the inquiry, which will not begin until the mediation has finished at the end of this year and is likely to last 12 months.

His remit will be to examine the UK's relationship and intelligence links with other countries where torture is practised.

Some 15 people have alleged they were tortured while being detained abroad and that British intelligence officers were somehow aware or complicit in their treatment. A number of victims are using the civil courts to try to obtain redress, resulting in complex legal battles that could go on for years if the mediation fails.

MI5 and MI6 faced new challenges in interviewing suspects abroad in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.

The security services were under intense pressure to glean information to prevent a similar terror strike on Britain. They also have to deal with countries, such as Pakistan and Yemen, where agencies operate to vastly different standards of human rights and civil liberties.

While the British agencies are facing allegations of complicity, they are not accused of "outsourcing" or involvement in torture. The civil cases against the security services threatens to disrupt the flow of intelligence from America because of fears that it could be made public by British courts.

Fragments of information could be withheld which could hamper efforts to build up a jigsaw of terror threats.

The most famous case involves Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born British resident who spent years in the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He alleges that he was tortured in both Pakistan, where he claims he was suspended by a leather strap, and Morocco, where his genitals were allegedly slashed. Mr Mohamed's supporters claim that MI5 officers colluded with his foreign interrogators by getting them to ask him specific questions which led to him making false confessions of terrorist activities.

An MI5 officer known in court as Witness B' was said to have observed and interrogated him and is now being investigated by Scotland Yard. The Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, effectively accused MI5 of complicity in torture in a judgment that former Foreign Secretary David Miliband attempted to have watered down.US intelligence chiefs were furious that their secret files were being sought by the British courts and threatened to stop intelligence-sharing.

The courts have brought together 42 documents which show that the security services were aware of the treatment meted out to the suspect and supplied 70 questions to his interrogators.

Using the inquiry to help settle compensation claims is seen as a way of shortening the legal cases.

These are tying up dozens of senior intelligence officers who are desperately needed in the fight against terrorists.

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