MI5 Chief Defends Torture Cover Up
The director-general of MI5, Jonathan Evans, has issued a passionate defence of the Security Service against the “conspiracy theory” that it covered up its involvement in torture.
Mr Evans accusations made by Lord Neuberger, the country’s second most senior judge, that there was a “culture of suppression” at MI5 were “the precise opposite of the truth”.
As Mr Evans defended the security services against claims of torture, ministers also voiced their support in an open letter to newspapers.
In their open letter David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, and Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, said it was “disgraceful” to suggest that the UK aided torture, or was turning a blind eye to it.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Mr Evans warns that the row over alleged human rights abuses would be used by “our enemies” as “propaganda to undermine our will and ability to confront them”.
His unprecedented response to criticism in print indicates the anger within MI5 at what is rapidly becoming its biggest crisis of recent years.
The row escalated on Wednesday when the Court of Appeal ordered the disclosure of seven paragraphs of evidence which showed that MI5 knew that Binyam Mohamed, a former Guantánamo Bay detainee, was being mistreated by the CIA.
Mr Miliband had tried to prevent the publication of the material.
The most damning criticism of MI5 was contained in an unpublished draft version of the court’s judgment, details of which were leaked to the media, in which Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls, claimed that the Security Service failed to respect human rights or denounce torture, and had lied to Parliament about what it knew.
More at: MI5 chief defends security services amid torture ‘cover-up’ claims (Telegraph UK)
Tags: cover up, torture
