Hong Kong's role in kidnapping of Libyan dissident Sami al-Saadi back in spotlight

Security chiefs remain tight-lipped over claims that Hong Kong conspired with US and British spies to kidnap a Libyan dissident and his family in 2004 despite damning revelations about the CIA's controversial rendition programme.

The case of Sami al-Saadi, Hong Kong's only known involvement in the rendition of a terrorism suspect, was thrown back into the spotlight last week after the US Senate released a report on the CIA's use of torture in the wake of the September 11 attacks on US soil.

In March 2004, Saadi and his family - including four young children - were detained at Chek Lap Kok airport for almost two weeks before they were forced onto a secret flight to Tripoli.

Saadi, a vocal opponent of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, had spent years living in exile in Britain and later in mainland China. He was considered a terrorist by the West as he had links to al-Qaeda.

While Saadi's case is not mentioned in the Senate report, it found that the CIA's torture of suspected terrorists between 2002 and 2008 was "far more brutal" than the agency admitted and that its detention and interrogation programme - which included brutal techniques and secret jails around the world - was "inadequate and deeply flawed".

The report, which cost US$40 million, was heavily redacted and the UK government had requested that all references to its involvement be edited out.

A spokeswoman for the Security Bureau refused to say whether the Hong Kong government had also asked the US to redact any mention of Hong Kong's role in the alleged rendition. "We have no comment," she said.