Sir Rifkind calls for access to CIA material on UK’s role in post-9/11 probes

Sir Malcolm Rifkind has demanded that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) release details of the UK’s role in the treatment of CIA detainees post-9/11.

Sir Rifkind, head of the Commons Intelligence and Security Committee, announced on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that the board would be asking to see material redacted from the report released by the CIA last week detailing the treatment of al-Qaeda suspects in the decade following 9/11.

Commenting on the possible involvement of British intelligence officials, Rifkind said: “If British intelligence officials were present when people were being tortured then they were complicit in that torture […] If people deserve to be embarrassed, it’s our job to embarrass them.”

Defence secretary Michael Fallon has called for ex-prime minister Tony Blair and former foreign secretary Jack Straw to comment on what they knew when they were in power. Fallon said: “It’s for ministers in that government to account for their actions.”

Today’s call by Sir Rifkind comes after the release of a 512-page summary report last week, which detailed the “brutal” treatment of terror suspects following 9/11. The full version is still classified.

The report found that the CIA repeatedly lied about its use of torture, which included practices such as water boarding, sleep deprivation and severe physical and psychological harm.

An initial version of the report was finished in 2012 but, due to disagreements about what content should be published, a classification review was required.

Rowan Frewin