Spy torture claims
The Age
Saturday February 13, 2010
LONDON. The head of Britain's domestic spy service has defended his agency's work amid claims it tried to cover up its involvement in torture.MI5 director-general Jonathan Evans, writing in The Daily Telegraph yesterday, rejected criticism from a senior judge that the agency had a "culture of suppression".In rare public comments, he said the accusation €” which came in a draft court ruling on the case of a Guantanamo Bay inmate €” was the "precise opposite of the truth".He admitted British intelligence was "slow to detect" US mistreatment of detainees after September 11, 2001, but added: "[We] did not practise mistreatment or torture then and do not do so now, nor do we collude or encourage others to torture on our behalf."
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