Downing Street Says

» Thursday, February 5, 2009

Torture

Put that yesterday the Foreign Secretary said that the Government did not condone or accept torture, and asked if the Prime Minister knew about this allegation, the PMS replied that the allegation as he understood it dated back to October, and these were not new. The Home Secretary had already referred the facts in the case to the Attorney-General. In terms of the UK Government s position on torture, of course the Prime Minister agreed with that.

Asked if there had been any direct government to government contact on this case, the PMS replied that the confusion here lay with people asking whether or not we had direct contact with the Americans on the question of residents at Guantanamo Bay, where as he understood it we had talked to the administration. Specifically on the issue of intelligence sharing and the issues at the centre of this particular case, as we said yesterday, we had not made any representations or engaged with the administration on the detail of this particular case.

Asked if we had been pressing for his release, the PM replied that we had been talking to the previous administration, but in terms of the detail of individual approaches to the US administration it was best to check with the Foreign Office.

Asked if it was found that British intelligence agents were complicit in torture, would they face disciplinary action, the PMS replied that the allegation had been made already, and the Home Secretary had referred the facts to the Attorney-General. He was not going to speculate on any potential outcome.

Asked if there was an intention to engage with the new administration on this, the PMS replied that on the next steps, it was best to wait for the Foreign Secretary s statement at 12:30.

Asked at what point the Foreign Secretary decided to make a statement on this, the PMS replied that it was best to ask the Foreign Office.

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Torture

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