Britain to compensate former Guantanamo Bay detainees alleging abuse

The Washington Post reports that the British government will pay millions of dollars to 15 former Guantanamo Bay detainees, and a current one, who accused the country's security services of collusion in torture and unlawful imprisonment, an extraordinary settlement that officials here insisted was not an admission of guilt.

A White House spokesman said the administration would have no comment on the British decision.

A number of former Guantanamo detainees have tried to sue in the United States. The courts have dismissed every case on the grounds that the government agencies and officials named have immunity from such civil lawsuits.

The Bush and Obama administrations have also invoked the "state secrets" privilege to end a number of lawsuits that charged that various government and private entities were complicit in torture.

The British action follows earlier decisions by the Canadian and Swedish governments to compensate citizens or residents who were transferred to third countries by the CIA for interrogation