Responding to news that the UK government is to make a financial payment to the Libyan national Sami al-Saadi and his family in relation to his alleged rendition to Libya and subsequent mistreatment, Amnesty International UK Campaigns Director Tim Hancock said:

“The Sami al-Saadi case is just one reason why we need a human rights-compliant inquiry into the extent of the UK’s involvement in torture and other abuses of detainees held overseas.

“The now-shelved inquiry under Sir Peter Gibson was never going to get to the bottom of this murky affair, or to allay public fears over it.

“We’ll be watching developments in the case of Mr Al-Saadi and others with interest, but we’ll also be pressing the government to instigate a proper inquiry as soon as possible, given ongoing criminal investigations.”