AfricaEuropeHuman Rights

Libyan torture victim demands UK apology

saberimoghaddam20130305075335850Former commander of anti-Gaddafi forces Abdel Hakim Belhadj, who is suing the British government over its alleged role in his kidnap and torture, has offered to settle the case for an unreserved apology.

Belhaj, who is making legal claim against the UK government, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and ex-senior MI6 official Sir Mark Allen, said on Monday that he wants an apology, an admission of liability and a token payment of £1 from each.

Belhadj insisted he was making the offer to dispel any accusation that he was suing the British government purely for financial gain.

The former fighter against Libya’s slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi argues that both British and US intelligence may have played a role in his 2004 detention in an airport in Thailand and his transfer to Tripoli, where he was brutally tortured and incarcerated until the 2011 uprising.

“Various media reports I have seen suggest that our motive for bringing this case is to enrich ourselves. I wish to lay this misconception to rest,” Belhaj said in an open letter which was sent to British Prime Minister David Cameron, Straw and Allen.

Reprieve legal director Cori Crider added, “It is time to put the ghosts of [former British Prime Minister] Tony Blair’s toxic ‘deal in the desert’ with Gaddafi to rest, and this is the perfect opportunity for David Cameron to do so.”

Libyans rose up against Gaddafi’s four-decade rule in February 2011 and deposed him in August 2011.

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