MPS are demanding a full investigation into allegations that British Muslims have been turned over to Pakistani security services so they can be tortured during interrogation.
The call, in a report – issued today by Westminster's Foreign Affairs Committee – concludes it is "extremely important" the claims of the so-called 'outsourcing' of torture are cleared up.
It follows a series of claims by Muslims who say they were arrested and tortured with the full knowledge of British diplomats and intelligence officers.
In one reported case, a young medical student was abducted at gunpoint in August 2005 and held for two months at the offices of Pakistan's Intelligence Bureau where, he claims, he was whipped, beaten, deprived of sleep and threatened with execution.
He claims he was questioned by British intelligence officers there, saying that they must have known about the conditions he was being held in.
A second Briton, Tariq Mahmood, 35, a taxi driver from Birmingham, claims he was abducted in Rawalpindi in October 2003 before being released without charge about five months later. He says he was tortured and MI5 officers and American officers had a hand in his mistreatment.
MI5 has denied any involvement in torture. The Home Office insisted that the intelligence services "do not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture".
But the Foreign Affairs Committee, chaired by a Labour MP, is now demanding further inquiries. In their report, published today, they say: "We conclude that it is extremely important that the veracity of allegations that the Government has 'outsourced' interrogation techniques involving the torture of British nationals by Pakistani authorities should be investigated."
The report singles out Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, the largest security agency in the country, where a number of Britons – some who have dual Pakistani nationality – have been held and allegedly tortured before being flown to the UK to stand trial. "Irrespective of these allegations, we recommend that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office should immediately seek full consular access in all cases where it is aware of mono- or dual-national British citizens being detained by the Pakistani authorities, and in particular by the Inter-Services Intelligence agency," it declares.
The wide-ranging report also concludes that Britain "can no longer rely" on assurances by US officers that they do not use torture methods on prisoners.
It follows revelations that the CIA had used the 'water-boarding' torture technique on several prisoners, including al-Qaeda suspects. Under the method, prisoners are restrained and laid on their backs while water is poured over the face and breathing passages, inducing the experience of drowning.
The report also adds that the Government has "a moral and legal obligation" to prevent flights entering the UK which are part of the so-called 'rendition circuit' – the practice where foreign prisoners have been transported from the US via Britain to other states known to employ torture.
The chairman of the committee, Mike Gapes MP, said: "Our report highlights a number of human rights issues related to counter-terrorism. We conclude that, given the recent US practice of water-boarding, the British Government can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture."
Amnesty International UK head of policy Jeremy Croft said: "While we have always stressed the need to combat terrorism, we share the committee's concerns over the UK Government and its current counter-terrorism policy.
"In particular, the UK Government needs to take allegations of torture at Guantanamo and other US detention centres altogether more seriously."
A spokeswoman for the Home Office said: "The Security and Intelligence Agencies do not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or inhumane or degrading treatment. For reasons both ethical and legal, their policy is not to carry out any action which they know would result in torture or inhuman or degrading treatment."
She added: "The ISC (Intelligence and Security Committee] gave the Security Service a clean bill of health in its 2005 report on torture."
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