Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Tuesday, 17 March 2009.

Binyam Mohamed

Question: My Lords, bearing in mind that the UN rapporteur on torture has been in regular contact with the Government to express his concerns about the role of British intelligence officers in the interrogation of suspects who have been tortured, have the Attorney-General, the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, who refused to appear before the Human Rights Committee, given evidence to Professor Nowak, and if so will they place copies of the exchanges in the Library? If the evidence shows that the Government collaborated with foreign intelligence agencies by supplying the ingredients for the questions to be put to torture victims, would that be referred to the police for criminal investigation, or would it be treated as a breach of our obligations under the convention against torture, and would that evidence be made available to the special rapporteur as well?

Answer: My Lords, the noble Lord raises a series of hypothetical questions, and it is not appropriate to speculate on these points, especially when we have got the inquiry into possible criminal wrongdoings that the Attorney-General is looking at, and when we have the potential for a very senior committee of parliamentarians of both Houses, namely the ISC, to look into these matters further. These matters are being dealt with in the right way at present.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 709 c117-8
Session: 2008-09
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Detainees Armed forces Intelligence services Iraq Prisoners' transfers Peacekeeping operations MI5 Terrorism Torture Afghanistan Rendition
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk