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Police to probe UK torture claims Police to probe UK torture claims
(20 minutes later)
Police are to investigate whether an MI5 officer was complicit in the torture of ex-Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed, the BBC understands. Police are to investigate whether an MI5 officer was complicit in the torture of ex-Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed.
Solicitor General Vera Baird will announce the police probe. The Attorney General, Baroness Scotland QC, said the probe would be "the appropriate course of action".
Ethiopian-born Mr Mohamed, a British resident, alleged that MI5 prolonged his detention and torture while he was being held in Morocco. Mr Mohamed, a UK resident, said MI5 had prolonged his detention and torture while he was being held in Morocco.
The MI5 agent who questioned him has denied threatening or putting any pressure on Mr Mohamed.The MI5 agent who questioned him has denied threatening or putting any pressure on Mr Mohamed.
Mr Mohamed says he was tortured in Morocco in 2002 by local officers asking him questions supplied by British intelligence. 'Seriousness and sensitivity'
Ethiopian-born Mr Mohamed says he was tortured while in US custody in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan, with the complicity of MI5.
He says that in Morocco in 2002, he was mistreated by local officers who asked him questions supplied by British intelligence.
Baroness Scotland said she had invited the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, to begin an inquiry.
"I have expressed to the commissioner the hope that the investigation can be taken forward as expeditiously as possible given the seriousness and sensitivity of the issues involved," she said.
"The conduct of the investigation will be a matter for the police, with advice from the Crown Prosecution Service."
The allegations were referred to law officers in 2008 by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.The allegations were referred to law officers in 2008 by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
In a statement, she said the government and the security services would co-operate fully with the police.
"Wherever allegations of wrongdoing are made, they are taken seriously," Ms Smith added.
But Zachary Katznelson, the legal director of charity Reprieve, whose lawyers represent Mr Mohamed, said he was concerned that crucial evidence would be kept from the inquiry.
"Many of the documents related to Mr Mohamed's treatment have been classified either in the US or the UK and unless the police have access to all of them, they will only see one tiny piece of the picture," he added.