Documents found in the abandoned office of the former head of Libya's spy service show that American and British intelligence agents helped Muammar Gaddafi prosecute Libyan dissidents, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
HRW said it had uncovered hundreds of letters between the CIA, MI6 and Libya's former spy chief and foreign minister, Musa Kusa, who is now in exile in London.
CIA letters begin with "Dear Musa" and are signed informally with only the names of CIA officials.
The current military commander for Tripoli of the interim Libyan government, Abdel Hakim Belhadj, was among those arrested by the CIA and sent to Libya, according to HRW.
CIA letters begin with "Dear Musa" and are signed informally with only the names of CIA officials
"Among the files we found in Musa Kusa's office is a CIA fax sent in 2004 in which the agency informs the Libyan government that they are able to arrest and extradite Belhadj," HRW's Peter Boukert, who reviewed the documents in the headquarters of the intelligence service in the center of Tripoli.
"That operation actually happened. He was arrested by the CIA in Asia and flown back to Libya on a secret flight, where the Libyan intelligence service interrogated and tortured him."
It looks like established practice
Belhaj claims that he was tortured by CIA agents before being transferred to Libya, where he was tortured in the notorious Abu Salim prison in Tripoli.
The "New York Times" stated that it is not possible to confirm the authenticity of the documents, but that, by all accounts, they correspond to facts related to the practice of transferring terrorism suspects from the US abroad for interrogation, and other known CIA methods.
The delivery took place during the administration of George W. Bush
The program consisted of delivering prominent figures associated with Al Qaeda in order to extort information from them through torture.
The delivery took place during the administration of George W. Bush.
The CIA did not comment directly on the HRW report.
Agency spokeswoman Jennifer Youngblad said, "It should come as no surprise that the Central Intelligence Agency works with foreign governments to protect our country from terrorism and other deadly threats."
Will PNS react?
A British government spokesman told Reuters that Britain "does not comment on intelligence matters".
Western intelligence services began cooperating with Libya after Gaddafi gave up his unconventional weapons program in 2004. However, documents found show that cooperation with the CIA and MI6 was more extensive than previously thought.
The New York Times reported that one document contained a proposed speech the Americans had written for Gaddafi about giving up unconventional weapons.
Other files show that MI6 was willing to divulge phone numbers to Libyans.
The depth of cooperation could anger the Transitional National Council (TNC), Libya's new leaders. Many of them have long been opponents of Gaddafi, now responsible for charting a new course for Libyan foreign policy.
What worries us is that these people were tortured after they were handed over to the Libyan security service and the CIA knew what would happen when it handed over people like Abdel Hakim to the Libyans.
Boukert showed Reuters photos of several documents on his computer and photos of letters the CIA had sent to Kusi, signed "Steve."
He also released photographs of letters in which MI-6 provided intelligence on Libyan dissidents in Britain.
"What worries us is that these people were tortured after they were handed over to the Libyan security service, and the CIA knew what would happen when they handed over people like Abdel Hakim to the Libyans," Boukert said.
More recent documents show that after the outbreak of war six months ago, Libya contacted a former rebel group in Somalia's breakaway state of Puntland, the Somali Salvation Front, asking it to send a thousand fighters to Tripoli to help defend Gaddafi.
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