Greece: The Greek government was facing mounting pressure last night to investigate claims that a senior British intelligence (MI6) officer masterminded the arrest and torture of Pakistani immigrants in Athens by local intelligence agents after the July 7th London bombings.
After a newspaper named the operatives allegedly involved, the conservative government of prime minister Costas Karamanlis was confronting growing accusations of a cover-up.
The controversy deepened when the investigative weekly Proto Thema revealed the identity of the M16 station chief in Athens, who it said had plotted the operation on Greek soil.
According to the newspaper, intelligence agents from Greece's national information service kidnapped the 27 Pakistani-born men from their homes and interrogated them, "as if they were in some adventure film", to try to extract information about the July bombings.
Claims of British involvement were strongly denied by sources close to the British security and intelligence agencies yesterday.
Jave Aslan, who heads the 30,000-strong community of Pakistani immigrants in Athens, said the men had been physically abused.
Greece's public order minister has repeatedly denied the charges. - (Guardian service)