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Iraq: Prisoners

Pursuant to my Answer of 2 June to the Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay (Official Report col. WA 15), we have continued our search for the records relating to an Answer given to the noble Lord by my noble friend the Lady Symons of Vernham Dean on 6 January 2004. We have now located the records concerned. The Answer was drafted by the Overseas Territories Department and approved by the FCO Minister concerned in the normal way. The background to this Answer states that assurances on this issue were given at the annual British Indian Ocean Territory US-UK political-military talks in June 2003, and that officials had tested this assurance with the US embassy in London, the State Department in Washington and the US commanding officer on Diego Garcia.