UK government rejects demand from campaigners to replace head of inquiry into torture claims

UK: Torture inquiry chief won’t be replaced

LONDON — Britain’s government said Thursday it has dismissed a call to replace the head of an inquiry into allegations the U.K. colluded in the torture of terrorism suspects overseas.

Human rights group Reprieve has complained that the inquiry chairman, ex-appeals court judge Peter Gibson, won’t be impartial in the investigation because he has served as Intelligence Services Commissioner, Britain’s spy watchdog, since April 2006 — developing close links to the intelligence community.

The government’s legal wing said in a letter to Reprieve on Thursday that attacks on Gibson were “unwarranted and baseless.”

The Treasury solicitors department pointed to Gibson’s 12-year record at the Court of Appeal as evidence of his ability to remain impartial.

“He will therefore bring to the inquiry all his undoubted judicial experience, expertise and integrity,” the letter from government lawyers’ office said.

The advocacy group also claimed Gibson had conducted a private, internal inquiry into the claims that Britain colluded in the mistreatment by the U.S. and other allies of suspects held overseas.

Government lawyers said no secret review has been carried out, but acknowledged Gibson had overseen work by spy agencies to prepare files to answer a series of lawsuits. About 12 ex-detainees who allege they were mistreated are suing Britain’s government.

In the most notorious case, ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed alleges Britain was aware he was beaten, subjected to sleep deprivation and had his genitals sliced with a scalpel while he was held in Pakistan in 2002.