UK-US torture collaboration revealed

Newly released Guantanamo files show that former UK government of Tony Blair knew British detainees were being tortured, yet it joined the US extraordinary rendition program

Apr 26, 2011 - The documents revealed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the British foreign intelligence agency MI6 rendered most of the British nationals in custody at the prison camp on Cuba, despite the knowlege of UK ministers and senior officials that abuses were being committed at the camp.

Meanwhile, the leaked documents show that the US intelligence apparatus knowingly kept innocent men locked up in Guantanamo Bay based on "fabricated stories" in what campaigners called a "travesty of justice".

The documents published by WikiLeaks show that the US knew many Guantanamo prisoners were innocent but imprisoned and tortured them to get information.

Legal action charity Reprieve said the files proved that US authorities relied on "a handful of serial informants who fabricated stories against hundreds of prisoners to avoid abuse and earn favors."

These men, whom the US and UK authorities knew were innocent, were imprisoned for years without trial because they were considered useful.

British national Jamal al-Harith was taken to Guantanamo just because he had been held in a Taliban prison and was thought to know how they interrogated inmates.

The documents support claims by campaigners and the inmates' lawyers that US authorities relied heavily on discredited "information" obtained by torturing a small number of detainees to keep innocent men locked up. {continued}