10 torture techniques blessed by Bush | Bush on torture: quotes

The detailed revelations of torture techniques used by the CIA and sanctioned by US Administration lawyers during the presidency of George Bush could have serious repercussions for British intelligence agencies, according to senior Whitehall officials.

MI5 and MI6 benefited from the huge amount of confessional material extracted from the interrogation of suspected al-Qaeda terrorist detainees when such methods were used.

The declassified American documents - four US Justice Department memos underwriting the “torture” techniques - reveal that during the interrogation of “high-value” suspected terrorist detainees between September 11, 2001, and April 2003, the CIA produced more than 3,000 intelligence reports.

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The substantial majority of this material, some of which would have been passed to the British as part of the intelligence-sharing arrangements, came “from detainees subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques”.

The CIA told the US Justice Department that the enhanced interrogation methods used - including waterboarding (simulating drowning), cramped confinement (with insects in one case where a detainee had a phobia), wall-standing and sleep deprivation - had been “virtually indispensable” in obtaining “actionable intelligence”. The Justice Department's lawyers justified them on the grounds that they did not induce severe pain or long-term mental ill-health.

Some Whitehall officials were hoping that the focus of attention would remain on the Washington end of the story. But, as America’s most intimate partner in the intelligence business, there remain concerns of possible legal implications for Britain.

UK officials said that the Government and the intelligence services had had no knowledge of the US Justice Department’s memos until they were published last night. However, in light of the case of British resident Binyam Mohammed - who alleged he was tortured by the CIA in a secret detention centre in Morocco - fears already exist that UK counter-terrorist intelligence work will be restricted in scope in the future because of concern that individual officers might face criminal prosecution if found to have been indirectly involved.

Mr Mohammed, an Ethiopian-born British resident recently released from four years in Guantanamo Bay, claimed he was subjected to inhumane treatment during interrogation by the CIA and that some of the questions had been framed by MI5. His allegations are now the subject of a Scotland Yard investigation ordered by Baroness Scotland of Asthal, QC, the Attorney-General, to assess whether any British intelligence officer was criminally complicit in Mr Mohammed’s mistreatment.

The extraordinary legalistic details contained in the four US Justice Department memos might help Mr Mohammed to make his case against the British authorities. The publication of the classified memos could also generate additional claims by other CIA-held detainees with links to Britain, attempting to show that Britain was complicit.

The response from Whitehall so far has been to say that interrogation methods used by the intelligence services were carefully drawn up and constantly reviewed. MI5 and MI6 intelligence officers who are sent abroad to question detainees held by foreign agencies receive special training and are reminded that they must protect the human rights of arrested terrorist suspects.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials said MI5 and MI6 are governed by guidelines drawn up by the Cabinet Office and approved by the Attorney-General, as the Government’s chief legal adviser. The lawyers for both MI5 and MI6 are then responsible for ensuring that the legal requirements are understood by individual intelligence officers.

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