Britain's foreign spy chief denied in an interview broadcast on the BBC on Aug. 10 that agents tortured terrorism suspects or that Britain colluded with countries that use torture.

MI6 chief Sir John Scarlett's claim came amid growing calls for an official inquiry into how much the U.K. government knew about the treatment of terrorism 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.

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