Ex-MI5 head: US concealed terror suspects' treatment

Tortured: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
12 April 2012

A former head of MI5 claimed US intelligence agencies deliberately concealed their mistreatment of terror suspects.

Baroness Manningham-Buller said she only learnt that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded after retiring from the Security Service in 2007.

Her intervention, to a selected gathering at the House of Lords last night, follows intense controversy over British agents' alleged collusion with US counterparts employing torture techniques.

It erupted last month after the disclosure of what was described as the "cruel, inhuman and degrading" treatment of Binyam Mohamed, the British resident formerly held at Guantanamo Bay.

Ministers and current MI5 chief Jonathan Evans insisted there was no collusion by UK security forces.

But there are enduring questions about exactly when they learnt that the US apparently changed its rules on torture after the 9/11 attacks.

The security services are also under pressure over claims that they have a "culture of suppression" about such matters.

But Lady Manningham-Buller said it had been the US that had been "very keen to conceal from us what was happening".

She added: "The Americans were very keen that people like us did not discover what they were doing."

In a lecture at an event organised by the Mile End Group, she said she had wondered, in 2002 and 2003, how the US had been able to supply the UK with intelligence from Mohammed.

"I said to my staff, 'Why is he talking?' because our experience of Irish prisoners, Irish terrorists, was that they never said anything," she said.

"They said, well, the Americans say he is very proud of his achievements when questioned about it.

"It wasn't actually until after I retired that I read that, in fact, he had been waterboarded 160 times."

Lady Manningham-Buller said the Government lodged "protests" with the Americans about its treatment of detainees, but refused to elaborate.

She went on to say that the allegations of complicity in torture could disrupt MI5's work.

"The allegations of collusion in torture and the lack of respect for human rights will wound those individuals personally and collectively, and in some respects - whether proven or not - it will make it harder for them to do their jobs," she said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in