Police to probe MI5 torture claims

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The Attorney General Baroness Scotland said that she had asked the Metropolitan Police to carry an investigation "as expeditiously as possible given the seriousness and sensitivity of the issues involved".

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "I have always made clear that when serious allegations are made they have got to be investigated. I have also been clear that this government does not tolerate or endorse torture."

Mr Mohamed alleges that an MI5 officer supplied questions to his interrogators when he was held and tortured at a secret site in Morocco following his arrest in Pakistan in 2002.

Zachary Katznelson, legal director of charity Reprieve, which represents Mr Mohamed, said he was concerned secret evidence would be excluded from the investigation. He said: "The Attorney General absolutely did the right thing today. It is critical that we get to the bottom of what was done to Binyam Mohamed and the role of any British official in his torture.

"But for this to be a proper inquiry the police have to be given access to all the information and that includes any secret information. Many of the documents related to Mr Mohamed's treatment have been classified either in the US or the UK and unless the police have access to all of them they will only see one tiny piece of the picture."

Mr Mohamed's claims were originally referred to Lady Scotland last year by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith after they surfaced in a High Court case brought by his lawyers.

Lady Scotland said that she and the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer, had reviewed a "substantial body of material" relating to the case, including the testimony of a MI5 officer identified only as Witness B.

"I have concluded that the appropriate course of action is to invite the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police to commence an investigation into the allegations that have been made in relation to Binyam Mohamed," she said.

Ms Smith said allegations of wrongdoing were taken seriously and pledged that the security and intelligence agencies would "co-operate fully" with the police investigation.