Belhaj and Boudchar: UK apology over Libya rendition
Verified: Documented in primary records or confirmed by reputable inquiry/reporting.
Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhaj and his wife Fatima Boudchar were seized in Thailand in 2004 and flown to Libya. On 10 May 2018 the Attorney General read the Prime Minister’s letter in the Commons: the Government’s actions “contributed to your detention, rendition and suffering”, and “I apologise unreservedly”. Boudchar received £500,000 in a settlement.
Documented
The Government said it believed their accounts. Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee reported in 2018 that SIS or MI5 made or offered financial contributions to others’ rendition operations in three cases, calling that “completely unacceptable”, and that in 28 cases they suggested, planned or agreed to renditions proposed by others.
Claimed, disputed or not established
Belhaj’s account of torture in Libya is his own testimony, which the Government said it believed. The ISC found no evidence that UK personnel directly carried out physical mistreatment of detainees; wider conduct is covered in its report.
Sources (opened in a new tab)
- Hansard: Belhaj and Boudchar litigation update (10 May 2018) ↗https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2018-05-10/debates/B9AD50CD-9D54-41DA-A18B-1526E7658593/BelhajAndBoudcharLitigationUpdate
- The Guardian: Britain apologises for ‘appalling treatment’ of Belhaj ↗https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/10/britain-apologises-for-appalling-treatment-of-abdel-hakim-belhaj
- ISC: Detainee Mistreatment and Rendition 2001–2010 (PDF) ↗https://isc.independent.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20180628-HC1113-Report-Detainee-Mistreatment-and-Rendition-2001-10.pdf
Connected
- Section: United Kingdom, also Middle East and Africa
- Agencies: SIS / MI6, MI5
- Vault documents: ISC report: Detainee Mistreatment and Rendition 2001-2010 ↗
- Case board · Timeline (2018) · Document vault