UK apologizes for role in Libyans' kidnapping and torture

LONDON (AP) — Britain acknowledged Thursday that its intelligence agents played a role in the kidnapping and torture of an opponent of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and the man's wife — a rare admission of wrongdoing by British spies.

Attorney General Jeremy Wright told lawmakers that Prime Minister Theresa May had apologized "unreservedly" to Abdel Hakim Belhaj and his wife Fatima Boudchar, acknowledging that Britain's actions "contributed to your detention, rendition and suffering."

Belhaj, a former leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group that had opposed Gadhafi, and Boudchar were kidnapped by the CIA in Thailand in 2004 and sent to Libya.