BRUSSELS, April 21 (UPI) -- The former U.K. ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has accused the United States and Britain of using testimonies obtained under torture in Uzbekistan.
"Under the U.K.-U.S. intelligence sharing agreement, the U.S. and U.K. have taken a policy decision that they will get testimonies obtained under torture in third countries," Murray said before a European Parliament committee probing allegations that the Central Intelligence Agency organized secret rendition flights of terror suspects through Europe and detained them in prisons there.
In a new development that has caused uproar in Berlin, he also accused Germany of the same practice.
"I am not aware of the CIA sharing intelligence with other European services but I know that Germany in particular had close links with the Uzbek intelligence security services and I believe this is still happening," he said, adding German officials had received intelligence "most certainly obtained under torture" in Uzbekistan.
German lawmakers have called for an inquiry into the allegations.
He said he had hard evidence that the Uzbek intelligence services torture detainees. The CIA and the British intelligence service MI6 did not participate in these interrogations, he said, but they shared the information obtained from them.
"I saw evidence of scores of cases of torture in Uzbekistan: people boiled to death, photos of serious injuries, mutilation of genitals, rape of individuals in front of their relatives... until they would sign a confession," he said.
Murray's diplomatic career ended two years ago, when he accused Washington and London of endorsing torture by using confessions obtained through torture from prisoners in Uzbekistan. He had been the country's ambassador from 2002 to 2004.
Washington has acknowledged the existence of secret renditions but has denied endorsing torture, directly or indirectly.
