LONDON, April 13 (UPI) -- A senior member of Parliament says a probe of torture allegations could harm Britain's ability to gather intelligence on terrorist activities.
Patrick Mercer, Conservative Party chairman of the House of Commons counter-terrorism subcommittee, said a police investigation into whether Britain's MI5 and MI6 spy agencies colluded in the alleged torture of former Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee Binyam Mohammed could derail efforts to prevent terrorism, The Times of London reported Monday.
"I have no doubt that there will be concerns in the intelligence agencies that they will now not be able to make use of extremely profitable sources of potentially life-saving intelligence," said Mercer.
Britain's attorney general has ordered police to determine whether MI5 may have abetted a criminal act by supplying questions to the CIA during Mohammed's alleged torture interrogation.
"We have … received intelligence of the highest value from detainees to whom we have not had access and whose location is unknown to us, some of which has led to the frustration of terrorist attacks in the U.K. or against U.K. interests," MI5 officials said in a 2005 statement to Parliament.
