LONDON, Dec 23: Foreign secretary Jack Straw has denied involvement of the British Security and Intelligence Services in torture on Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi, who was captured by the Pakistani security agencies from Karachi airport in 2002. Mr Straw told the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons: “Mr Habashi was interviewed once by a member of the UK Security Service while he was in detention in Karachi in 2002. However,” Mr Straw said, “the British Security Service had no role in his capture or in his transfer from Pakistan.”

The case is the first which alleges involvement of British security personnel in the torture on Mr Habashi in Pakistan and Morocco.

According to a report prepared by Clive Stafford Smith, an internationally acclaimed human rights activist and the lawyer for Mr Habashi, his client was tortured in Pakistani and Moroccan prisons and it was in the knowledge of the British security personnel. The lawyer’s report, based on his client’s testimony, also accuses Pakistani security officials of beating him with a belt and sticking a gun in his chest when he refused to make the desired confession before US officials in Pakistan.

The Pakistani officials then handed Mr Habashi over to US officials who later transported him to Morroco where, the testimony says, he was given third degree torture; his penis was sliced with scalpels. After forced confessions, he was finally transferred to the infamous Guantanamo Bay from where Mr Habashi was released in 2004.

According to the minutes of the Foreign Affairs Committee meeting made public earlier this week, Mr Straw said the British agents did not see any signs of abuse on Mr Habashi when they interviewed him in Karachi.

“The Intelligence and Security Committee report on handling of detainees by UK intelligence personnel gave details of the guidance under which such interviews were conducted. The service officer did not observe any abuse and no instances of abuse were reported to him by Mr Habashi,” said Mr Straw.

In response to a question by MP Sir John Stanley if Mr Habashi was deliberately handed over to the CIA by the British Intelligence Services, Mr Straw said, “I know nothing about it.”

Asked by Sir John if he would clarify that in a letter to the Committee, Mr Straw said, “I may or may not answer, because I think basically these are matters for investigation by the ISC (Intelligence and Security Committee).”

However, on the insistence of Sir John to clarify the question if Mr Habashi was handed over to US CIA in Pakistan, Mr Straw said he would consider the question and offer a reply.

In response to a question by MP Paul Keetch about reported allegations of involvement of British MI6 agents in torture on 28 detainees of Pakistani origin in Greece, Mr Straw categorically denied the allegation.

Mr Straw told the Committee that individuals who believed they had suffered wrong at the hands of intelligence or security agencies, including the people who claim that they were ill-treated by British intelligence in Greece, had a statutory right to make a complaint to the Intelligence Services Commissioner.