US 'ignored' UK torture protests

The US has ignored "strong protests" from Britain when using information from the security services to practice 'rendition', it has emerged.

Parliament's intelligence and security committee, made up of senior MPs and peers made the revelation in a report on allegations of UK involvement in the American practice of allowing terror suspects to be tortured on Wednesday.

The report concluded that there was one case, that of Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna, in which the British security services "inadvertently" prompted American action through the sharing of routine intelligence.

The intelligence had been passed on with a specific requirement that it not be used for rendition.

"The Security Service did not foresee that the US authorities would disregard the caveats, given that they had honoured the caveat system for the past 20 years," said the report.

"This case shows a lack of regard on the part of the US for UK concerns - despite strong protests - and that has serious implications for the intelligence relationship."

Committee chairman Paul Murphy said: "There has, rightly, been a great deal of concern expressed about possible UK involvement in the US rendition programme.

"Our inquiry has not been helped by the fact that government departments have had such difficulty in establishing the facts from their own records in relation to requests to conduct renditions through UK airspace.

"This is a matter of fundamental liberty, and we recommend that the government ensure that proper searchable records are kept in the future."

In its response to the report, the government said it also had "serious concerns", although it added that "the UK has a close, long-standing, extensive and valuable intelligence relationship with the US".

Procedures have been changed to ensure that ministers are better informed in future, added the government.