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Written question asked by Baroness Tonge (Independent Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 15 June 2015, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Monday, 29 June 2015. It was answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative) on Wednesday, 24 June 2015 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Rendition

Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the newly declassified accounts of CIA torture practices at Guantanamo Bay, what assurances they will give that they will not repeat their use of rendition or collaborate in such practices, and that full transparency will be allowed regarding the treatment of United Kingdom detainees.

Answer

The British Government stands firmly against all torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment. We do not do it, we do not condone it, and we do not ask others to do it on our behalf.

The US government has been clear that it has no intention of reverting to previous practices under the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)’s detention and interrogation programme. President Obama formally ended the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques soon after taking office. In response to the recent publication of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s declassified summary of their report on CIA detentions and interrogation, he issued a statement which referred to those former practices as “inconsistent with our values as a nation”, and reiterated that he would continue to use his authority as President to make sure that they were not used again.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL472
Session
2015-16
Subjects
Detainees Torture Rendition Guantanamo Bay US Central Intelligence Agency
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk