Responding to fresh reports of the UK’s alleged involvement in the rendition of several people to Libya, Amnesty International UK Policy Adviser Tara Lyle said:

“The allegations are mounting higher and higher over this issue and we need to ensure that a proper public inquiry is still mounted after police investigations are concluded.

“Only a broad human rights-compliant inquiry can get to the full truth about the policies that allowed the UK to become involved in these human rights abuses and who gave the sign-off.

“This murky and deeply worrying episode is a reminder of why we shouldn’t allow the government to set up a secret justice system in our civil courts that could see these kinds of cases draped in a cloak of secrecy.

“The intelligence and security services have an important job to do but they must still be fully answerable for their actions. Any involvement in rendition, secret detention and torture must be brought to light, not swept under the carpet.”