The British government plans to pay compensation amounting to millions of dollars to a dozen former Guantanamo Bay inmates. The men, all British citizens or residents, had launched court proceedings against the government and claimed that British intelligence services had colluded in their torture in secret prisons abroad, the Guardian reports.
Prime Minister David Cameron, who opened negotiations with the men after a court ordered the disclosure of tens of thousands of confidential documents, says clearing the civil cases opens the door for an independent inquiry into British involvement in torture. "We need to deal with the totally unsatisfactory situation where for the past few years, the reputation of our security services has been overshadowed by allegations about their involvement in the treatment of detainees held by other countries," he said. (More extraordinary rendition stories.)