Prosecutors won’t charge UK officials over Libya renditions

LONDON – British prosecutors announced Thursday that they will not charge British officials or spies over the detention and rendition of two opponents of the former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Sami al-Saadi allege the British government and its MI6 intelligence agency colluded with American authorities in their kidnappings and ill-treatment.

The men were detained with their families in southeast Asia in 2004 and sent to Gadhafi’s Libya, where they were imprisoned. They accused former Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and a former senior MI6 officer, Mark Allen, of responsibility.

The British government denies complicity in rendition or torture.

Police asked prosecutors to consider charges against one suspect, who was not identified.

Sue Hemming of the special crime and counterterrorism division at the Crown Prosecution Service said there was “insufficient evidence to charge the suspect with any criminal offence.”

The service said there was evidence that the suspect had “been in communication with individuals from the foreign countries responsible for the detention and transfer of the Belhaj and al-Saadi families” and had sought political authorization for some of his actions.

But it said Britain could not prosecute for aiding or abetting kidnap because the alleged offences took place abroad, and there was not enough evidence to bring charges of aiding or abetting torture.

Belhaj told the BBC he was “very disappointed that individuals responsible will not be prosecuted.”

“If there is political interference with the courts then it undermines British justice,” he said.