Former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has admitted that he signed off the decision to capture
Abdel Hakim Belhadj and hand him to Colonel Gaddafi, but only after Foreign Office officials showed Mr Straw evidence his signature authorising them to arrange the abduction in 2004.
Mr Belhadj claims he was jailed and tortured in a Libyan prison after his ‘extraordinary rendition’, and is suing the UK Government for £1million in compensation.
Last year Mr Straw denied any knowledge of the operation, saying: ‘The position of successive foreign secretaries, including me, is that we were opposed to unlawful rendition, opposed to torture or similar methods, and not only did we not agree with it, we were not complicit in it, nor did we turn a blind eye to it.’
Blind eye or not, he obviously did not see what he was signing. Writing with your eyes shut; now that's a real talent.
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