LONDON: Britain acknowledged Thursday that its intelligence agents played a role in the kidnapping and torture of an opponent of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and the man's wife -- a rare admission of wrongdoing by British spies.
Attorney General Jeremy Wright told lawmakers that Prime Minister Theresa May had apologised "unreservedly'' to Abdel Hakim Belhaj and his wife Fatima Boudchar, acknowledging that Britain's actions "contributed to your detention, rendition and suffering''.
Mr Belhaj, a former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group that had opposed Gadhafi, and Boudchar were kidnapped in Thailand in 2004 and sent to Libya. Mrs Boudchar, who was pregnant at the time, says she was tortured and released before giving birth to a son. Mr Belhaj spent six years in custody and says he was tortured repeatedly.
Mr Belhaj and Mrs Boudchar say a tip-off from British intelligence helped the CIA abduct them and have spent years pursuing British officials through UK courts seeking compensation and an apology.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Wright said the pair had now withdrawn their claims against the British government, former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and Mark Allen, a former senior officer in the MI6 intelligence agency.
He said as part of an out-of-court settlement, Mrs Boudchar would receive £500,000 ($677,000). Mr Belhaj did not seek financial compensation, saying he only wanted an apology.
Mr Wright said the settlement contained no admission of liability. But he read from Mrs May's letter to the couple, which said Britain was "profoundly sorry for the ordeal that you both suffered and our role in it''.
"The UK government's actions contributed to your detention, rendition and suffering,'' the letter said.
"The UK government shared information about you with its international partners. We should have done more to reduce the risk that you would be mistreated. We accept this was a failing on our part.''
Mrs Boudchar was in the public gallery of the House of Commons with her son, now 14, to hear Mr Wright's apology. Mr Belhaj was due to speak later in Istanbul, where the family now lives.
In a statement issued by his lawyers, Mr Belhaj said: "I welcome and accept the prime minister's apology, and I extend to her and the attorney general my thanks and sincere goodwill.''
Mrs Boudchar said the case "has forced me to relive the lowest moments in my life for many years, and at times it has been a real struggle to keep going. But by today's settlement I look forward to rebuilding my life with dignity and honour.''
In an opinion piece in The New York Times, Mrs Boudchar said she was chained to a wall and tortured by the CIA when she was pregnant while being detained at a secret site in Thailand. She said she wanted to know what Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump's nominee to head the CIA, knew about her mistreatment.
Ms Haspel, a 33-year CIA veteran, is believed to have run a CIA "black site'' in Thailand in the early 2000s.
The renditions happened at the height of the US-led "war on terror'', and at a time when Britain was trying to improve relations with Gadhafi, a former international pariah who had recently renounced weapons of mass destruction.
In 2004, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Gadhafi in Libya, beginning a thaw in relations dubbed the "deal in the desert".
After Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011, documents were discovered that disclosed the cozy working ties between Gadhafi's spies and Western intelligence officials.
They included a faxed letter from MI6 congratulating Gadhafi's intelligence chief Moussa Koussa on the "safe arrival'' of Mr Belhaj, saying that it was "the least we could do for you and for Libya to demonstrate the remarkable relationship we have built over recent years.''
Mr Wright told lawmakers that in the wake of the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, Britain and its international partners "were suddenly adapting to a completely new type and scale of threat''.
"It is clear with the benefit of hindsight that the government, the agencies and their staff were in some respects not prepared for the extreme demands suddenly placed on them,'' he said. "The unacceptable practices of some of our international partners should have been understood much sooner.''