Lawyers for Gadaffi opponents welcome scrapping of the Gibson Torture Inquiry

Leigh Day & Co has welcomed the scrapping of the Gibson inquiry into British complicity in torture. The cancellation of the inquiry follows the launch of fresh criminal investigations into claims of ill treatment by two opponents of Colonel Gaddafi, who claim they were illegally rendered to Libya.

The Justice Secretary, Kenneth Clarke told the Commons that there "now appears no prospect of the Gibson Inquiry being able to start in the foreseeable future".

He told MPs that the inquiry's work will be brought "to a conclusion" but the Government still intends to hold "an independent, judge-led inquiry once all police investigations have concluded”.

The detainee inquiry had already been widely criticised for lacking "credibility or transparency", with human rights groups and detainees refusing to take part.

Richard Stein, Head of Human Rights at law firm Leigh day & Co, who is representing the two Libyan men and their families, said:


"We welcome the scrapping of this inquiry. It was ill conceived from the beginning, the government reserved the right for the final say on what material would be published and did not allow for cross-examination or any other way of testing the evidence from members of the UK security services, which was to be given secretly. 
 


"When there is a future inquiry, following the police investigations into my client's allegations, then it must have credibility, allowing the official version of events to be challenged.”

Abdel Hakim Belhadj, one of the leaders of anti-Gaddafi forces, called for the police "to find not just the rank-and-file agents, but those ministers who were truly responsible".

Mr Belhadj, 45, who was living in exile in Beijing, China, says he was tortured after being detained with his wife in 2004 en route to the UK where they were trying to seek asylum.

Also known as Abu Abd Allah Sadiq, Mr Belhadj was held for six years in prisons in Libya, and claims “foreign” agents, including some from the UK, interrogated him.

The Scotland Yard investigation will also consider similar claims made by Sami al Saadi, another opponent of the Gaddafi regime

Mr al Saadi, 45, also known as Abu Munthir, said he was stopped, along with his wife and four young children, when he was flying to Europe from his home in China and taken to Hong Kong then Tripoli in 2004.