UK spy agency MI6 "not complicit in torture": chief

John Scarlett's claim comes amid growing calls for an official inquiry into how much the government knew about the treatment of terror suspects overseas. Several British residents who allege they were tortured or abused in countries such as Pakistan and Morocco say British intelligence agents were complicit in their mistreatment because they fed questions to foreign interrogators.

"Our officers are as committed to the values, and the human rights values, of liberal democracy as anybody else. They also have the responsibility of protecting the country against terrorism, and these issues need to be debated and understood in that context," Scarlett, the MI6 chief, told the BBC in an interview broadcast Monday.

When asked about torture, Scarlett said: "No torture, and there is no complicity with torture."

Parliament's human rights committee last week called for an independent inquiry into whether British spies were complicit in the torture of terrorist suspects.

"We do not support calls for an inquiry," a spokesman for the prime minister's office said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with government policy.