Belhaj said he would settle the case for £1 and an apology from the British government (AFP)
The British government on Thursday apologised “unreservedly and unequivocally” for its role in what it called the “appalling treatment” of Abdel Hakim Belhaj, a leading opponent of the former Libyan dictator Muammat Gaddafi, and his pregnant wife, Fatima Boudchar.
They were seized and bound in 2004 in a secret operation conducted by the British foreign intelligence agency, MI6, with the help of the CIA and flown to Triploi where they were subsquently tortured.
With Boudchar and her teenage son Abderrahim watching from the public gallery, Jeremy Wright, the UK's attorney general, announced that the government had reached a “full and final settlement” with Belhaj and his family, including a payment of £500,000 ($675,000) in compensation for Boudchar.
Signficantly he also said the deal included “no admission of liability”, leaving a huge question mark over who was responsible for the rendition of Belhaj from Bangkok to Tripoli in 2004, a time when Britains Labour government under Tony Blair was developing a close and lucrative relationship with Gaddafi.
The UK government should have understood much sooner some of the unacceptable practices of our international partners and we sincerely regret our failures
British Prime Minister Theresa May
Wright said that British Prime Minister Theresa May had written to Belhaj in a letter which referred to his and Boudchars “deeply troubling and appalling treatment”.
"On behalf of Her Majestys Government I apologise unreservedly. We are profoundly sorry for the ordeal you both suffered and our role in it," the letter said.
"The UK government should have understood much sooner some of the unacceptable practices of our international partners and we sincerely regret our failures."
May also told Belhaj there were "missed opportunities" and said she regretted that the British government had not done more to "alleviate your plight".
“With the benefit of hindsight” the UKs security and intelligence agencies were not prepared for the actions and practices of its partners and in future ministers would ensure they were consulted in risky operations, it said.
Belhaj had always insisted he would settle for just £1 in compensation and an apology from the British government.
In an interview with Middle East Eye last year, Belhaj said: "If the British government or those involved admit to what has happened and apologise I am happy to end it like that."
Reacting to the apology on Thursday, Belhaj said: “I welcome and accept the prime ministers apology, and I extend to her and the attorney general my thanks and sincere goodwill.”
Fatima Boudchar said: “I thank the British government for its apology and for inviting me and my son to the UK to hear it. I accept the governments apology."
'Lines that must not be crossed'
Sapna Malik from law firm Leigh Day who represented the couple said: “Todays historic occasion is a tribute to the resilience of our clients in their quest for justice. After six long years of litigation, [the government] has rightly acknowledged that, even in the fields of counterterrorism and international relations, there are lines which must not be crossed and which were crossed here, with devastating consequences for my clients.
“Todays candid apology helps restore the humanity and dignity so brutally denied to my clients during their ordeal and is warmly welcomed.”
Cori Crider, Reprieve counsel to the family said: “This is not just Abdel Hakim and Fatimas victory. It is a victory for everyone who opposes injustice, secret detention, and torture.
”Sonya Sceats, chief executive of Freedom from Torture campaigjn group, said: “We welcome the public apology from the attorney-general but it must be the beginning not the end of a proper accounting for the sinister pattern of UK complicity in the years after the 9/11 attacks.
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“Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Fatima Boudchar are an inspiration to torture survivors everywhere for their courage and principled pursuit of justice but they should never have had to fight this hard for an official apology.
“There can be no defence of torture and the wider lessons from such shameful lapses must be learned to guard against a repetition. It is vital that today's announcement is followed by a comprehensive truth-telling in line with the UK's unbreakable legal obligations to investigate torture and hold those responsible to account.
“It is even more urgent that the government goes ahead with the judge-led inquiry into UK involvement with torture as promised by David Cameron in 2010 and later passed to the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee."
MI6-CIA operation
Belhaj, a military commander and former political activist, and Boudchar were seized in Bangkok in 2004 in a joint MI6–CIA operation. Belhaj was hooded and shackled to the floor in a stress position and the then pregnant Boudchar was bound tightly by tape throughout 17-hour flight to Tripoli. where they were tortured by Muammar Gaddafis security forces.
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A fellow member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, Sami Al-Saadi, was also rendered to the Libyan capital in an MI6-CIA operation. He, too, was tortured, later accepting compensation of £2.2 million from the British government.
Belhaj was questioned by MI6 after MI5 sent a list of questions to ask Belhaj when he was held, for long period in solitary confinement, in Tripolis Tajoura jail.
In the letter, Allen congratulated Koussa on the “safe arrival” of Belhaj. “This was the least we could do for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built over recent years.” He added that “amusingly”, the CIA– which had provided the aircraft for the rendition operation – had asked that MI6 channel all requests for information from Belhaj through them.
“I have no intention of doing any such thing. The intelligence … was British. I know I did not pay for the air cargo. But I feel I have the right to deal with you direct on this.”
'Deal in the desert'
Two weeks after the couple were renditioned to Libya, Tony Blair paid his first visit to the country, embracing Gaddafi in the so-called "deal in the desert" and declaring that Libya had recognised “a common cause, with us, in the fight against al-Qaeda extremism and terrorism”. In London, the Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell announced it had signed a lucrative contract for gas exploration rights in Libya.
British government officials who did not want to be identified told this reporter that the rendition operation was a “ministerially authorised government policy”, while Richard Dearlove, head of MI6 at the time, has said: “It was a political decision, having very significantly disarmed Libya, for the government to cooperate with Libya on Islamist terrorism.”
Dearlove, led a high-powered delegation to discuss close cooperation with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his security chiefs shortly before the abductions of Belhaj, Boudchar and Saadi, according to British court documents.
Straw, then the foreign secretary responsible for MI6, told MPs in 2005 that “there is simply no truth in the claims that the United Kingdom has been involved in rendition full stop.”
After the Allen letter emerged, Straw said: “No foreign secretary can know all the details of what its intelligence agencies are doing at any one time.”
MEE understands that MI6 sought assurances from Moussa Koussa that Belhaj and Saadi would not be mistreated.
Thursdays statement by Wright shed no light on who was responsible for the rendition of Belhaj and his family.
Four-year police investigation
After a four-year police investigation, Britains Crown Prosecution Service announced that neither Straw nor Allen would face charges because of insufficient evidence although Allen had “sought political authority for some of his actions albeit not within a formal written process nor in detail…”
In a carefully-worded statement the CPS added: “There is sufficient evidence to support the contention that the suspect had been in communication with individuals from the foreign countries responsible for the detention and transfer of the Belhaj and Saadi families; disclosed aspects of what was occurring to others within this country; and sought political authority for some of his actions albeit not within a formal written process nor in detail which covered all his communications and conduct."
However, the CPS went on: "Officials from the UK did not physically detain, transfer or ill-treat the alleged victims directly, nor did the suspect have any connection to the initial physical detention of either man or their families."
An indication that the police believed they had sufficient evidence for a criminal prosecution in what they called Operation Lydd is clear from a little-noticed answer to a question put to London Mayor Sadiq Khan in October 2016.
“The Metropolitan Police submitted a comprehensive file of evidence (in excess of 28,000 pages) to the Crown Prosecution Service seeking to demonstrate that the conduct of a British official amounted to Misconduct in Public Office”, Khan said.
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