Blair knew of a secret policy which led to torture

By Alex Smith

There’s a worrying article in the Guardian this morning reporting the existence of a letter which may show that Tony Blair knew of a policy that effectively led to torture during ­counter-terrorism investigations.

British intelligence officers were given written instructions that they could not “be seen” to condone torture but that there was no obligation to intervene in cases of mistreatment.

“Given that they are not within our ­custody or control, the law does not require you to intervene to prevent this,” the policy said.

Philippe Sands QC says the policy almost certainly breaches international human rights law.

Blair indicated his awareness of the existence of the policy in the middle of 2004, a few weeks after publication of photographs depicting the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Read the full article here.