Climax of Years of Denials

Guantánamo payout deal is climax of years of denials of UK role in rendition

Analysis: Settlement means no more damaging documents or information will be released by the courts

16 November 2010 - The disclosure that UK citizens and residents incarcerated in Guantánamo Bay are to receive millions of pounds in compensation is the climax of years of official denials of Britain's role in the secret transfer of terror suspects to prisons where they risked being tortured – the CIA practice of "extraordinary rendition".

Evidence that Britain's security and intelligence services – MI5 and MI6 – initially connived in the practice began to emerge as early as 2002. The following year, the Guardian disclosed that London-based businessmen Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil al-Banna had been seized by CIA agents in Gambia after a tip-off by British security sources. They were taken to the notorious prison in Bagram in Afghanistan before flown to Guantánamo Bay. Al-Rawi and al-Banna are two of those who will now be paid compensation by the British government.

As Jack Straw, then foreign secretary, continued to deny any collusion with the US, a Guardian investigation had established by 2005 that aircraft used by the CIA in renditions had flown in and out of the UK at least 210 times since the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. {read rest}