Libyan Rebel and Wife To Sue Britain For Damages: Alleges UK Handed Him To Gaddafi Regime To Face Torture

Britain will soon face a legal suit for torture. The former Libyan Islamist commander Abdel Hakim Belhadj last Thursday obtained the legal right to sue Britain for damages for the torture he suffered at the hands of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi's henchmen, after the British and U.S. CIA operatives forcibly handed him to Libyan custody.

The appeal court set aside an earlier court verdict that restrained Belhadj from suing Britain and observed, "The allegations in this case pertain to grave violations of human rights. The stark reality is that unless the English courts are able to exercise jurisdiction in this case, these grave allegations against the executive will never be subjected to judicial investigation," reports Reuters. The ruling by London's Court of Appeal may also pave way for similar litigations against the British government for torture or rendition cases.

Kidnapped from Thailand

The rebel leader Abdel Hakim Belhadj played a big role in toppling Gaddafi in 2011. Currently, he is the leader of the Libyan al-Watan Party. When he was fighting Gaddafi in exile, he and his pregnant wife Fatima were abducted by the CIA agents in Thailand in 2004 and handed over to Tripoli with the help of British security officials.

The British support to Gaddafi followed the mending of relations between the two in 2004, after the then Prime Minister Tony Blair met the Libyan leader and clinched a "deal in the desert" bringing Libya back into the international fold despite the 1988 bombing of a U.S. jet over the Scottish town of Lockerbie.

Belhadj started his efforts to sue Britain in 2011 and moved a legal suit against former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, Britain's MI5 and MI6 spy agencies. Last year, he had a setback when a High Court judge ruled that English courts cannot hear the case because the allegations involved other countries like the United States. Under state immunity, foreign states cannot be sued in the U.K. courts.

Collusion Exposed

Finally relief came last Thursday, as the three senior judges at London's Court of Appeal overturned that previous decision and gave the mod to Belhadj and wife to pursue damages. Belhadji had been a long-standing enemy of Gaddafi. He underwent imprisonment and tortured until his release in 2010. Belhadji's wife too suffered four-month incarceration.

After the fall of Gaddafi, secret documents came out and allegedly showed British officials were in contact with former Libyan spy chief Moussa Koussa in handing over Belhadj. However, British ministers have denied any knowledge of having sent anyone to Libya to face torture. They were also against exposing secret intelligence materials in court cases as it might damage relations with the U.S., reported Al Jazeera. A spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office said they were studying the ruling and will soon take a decision whether to appeal against it.