By BEN KERRIGAN
A former senior M16 officer and Jack Straw, have escaped torture charges, the Cps have announced.
The former secretary of state and an m 16 officer will not be charged for their alleged roles in the handling of Libyan dissidents and their families during the leadership of former dictator, Colonel Gaddafi.
Prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to prosecute anyone for the alleged rendition of Hakeem Belhaven and his pregnant wife, as well as fellow dissident, Same Al Saudi, his wife and young children.
The m16 officer, believed to be sir Mark Allen, the former head of counter terrorism, believed to be responsible for a series of faxes to Libya, is referred to in the documents, as a suspect. After a four year investigation, Sue Hemmings, head of Cps special case and counter terrorism division, said there was insufficient evidence to charge the suspects with any criminal offences.
She said the decision was based on all the available admissible evidence after weighing up all the information they had been provided with. The decision comes as a huge relief to Sir Mark Allen and former secretary of state, Jack Straw, also questioned about the 2004 rendition.
Belhaven, a leading member of the Islamic opposition to Gaddafi, and his wife, we’re both abducted in 2004 after arriving in Thailand from London. Belhajs wife claimed she had been taped to a stretcher for 17 hours whilst being flown back to Libya
PRISON
She spent four months in prison whilst her husband was imprisoned over six years. Disturbingly, he claims she was tortured on multiple occasions during his time in prison.
The intuitive conclusion is that the allegation of torture probably did take place, since it would be far fetched for such an allegation to be concocted. However, this is no suggestion that either Jack Straw or the M16 agent endorsed any such torture, or were even aware of it.
Torture, as an illegal means of obtaining information, is nothing new. Lawyers for the families abducted allege the agreement to render them over to the Libyan regime took place as part of a diplomatic bargain over trade deals and oil contracts worth billions to both countries.
Westminster own intelligence and security committee have taken up the investigation.
