TASHKENT (BBC News) Oct. 11, 2004 -- The UK ambassador to Uzbekistan has criticised MI6 for using intelligence allegedly gained through torture, according to newspaper reports.

In a confidential internal document leaked to the Financial Times, Craig Murray said Uzbek officials abused prisoners to extract information. The intelligence was used by MI6 after being passed on by the CIA, he alleges.  

According to the FT, Mr Murray says "Torture dupes are forced to sign up to confessions showing what the Uzbek government wants the US and UK to believe." And he claims the Uzbeks exaggerate the activity of local militants and their links with al-Qaeda.

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Tashkent City of Uzbekistan

Mr Murray has been an outspoken critic of the regime's human rights record throughout his two years as ambassador. The private Foreign Office memo reportedly shows Mr Murray's concerns about Britain's use of intelligence gained by such means.

The Foreign Office has responded saying the British government, including intelligence agencies, has never used torture to obtain information or incited others to do so.

● UZBEK RIOTS or another "Orange Revolt"?

The Hague, 17 July 2003 -- The OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Netherlands Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, returned from a five-day visit to Central Asia convinced that there is no alternative to continued dialogue with the Central Asian states.

"I am satisfied that I have been able to visit Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and that I had discussions with the highest authorities of these countries as well as with representatives of the civil society", the Chairman-in-Office said. "I hope that the personal contact I have established with the Presidents and Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the four countries will help us translate the priority this Chairmanship has given to Central Asia into intensified activities and cooperation."