MI6 chief Sawers: we have nothing to do with torture

MI6 head Sir john Sawers has given a speech about the secretive security agency and its claim that it doesn’t engage in torture of suspects. This was the first public speech by the head of MI6 in over 100 years.

Sawers, who gained unusual notoriety in recent years due to a family member posting photos of him on holiday on Facebook, claimed that MI6 declined to pass on intelligence about individuals to foreign countries if it could lead to torture even though "terrorist activity" could be the end result.

Sir John said: "Torture is illegal and abhorrent under any circumstances, and we have nothing whatsoever to do with it.”

"If we know or believe action by us will lead to torture taking place, we're required by UK and international law to avoid that action. And we do, even though that allows the terrorist activity to go ahead."

He welcomed the inquiry into allegations that MI5 and MI6 colluded in the torture and inhuman treatment of unlawfully detained terror suspects. These include the case of Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian-born UK resident held incommunicado in Pakistan before being tortured in Morocco and secretly rendered by the CIA to Guantánamo Bay.