BRITAIN: British prime minister Tony Blair was advised to avoid answering detailed questions about Britain's involvement in the so-called "rendition" of terrorist suspects by the US, according to a leaked Foreign Office memorandum.
The memo, leaked to the New Statesman, said the extent of UK involvement was unclear, and that such operations would rarely be legal under UK law and never if there was a risk of torture.
The memo, from Irfan Siddiq, a private secretary in the Foreign Office to his No 10 counterpart, Grace Cassy, appears to have been written last month to prepare Mr Blair for prime minister's questions on December 7th.
It opens with a discussion on whether rendition - defined as the transfer of a person from one jurisdiction to another outside normal legal processes such as extradition - is legal.
It says in "certain tightly defined circumstances" - where, for example, it complied with the law of both countries concerned - it would be legal, although, it notes: "Such cases will be rare."
Under UK law in "most circumstances" rendition would not be legal, although it "might" be legal if, for example, there was no extradition treaty between Britain and a third country involved in the case.
On the issue of "extraordinary extradition" - where there was considered to be a "real risk" of torture - the memo says this could "never" be legal:
"This is clearly prohibited under the UN Convention Against Torture."
It goes on to note that the US never uses the term "extraordinary rendition", arguing that in cases where a suspect is transferred to a country where there is considered to be a risk of torture, they always seek assurances from the government concerned that the person will not be tortured.
"We would not want to cast doubt on the principle of such government-to-government assurances, not least given our own attempts to secure these from countries to which we wish to deport their nationals suspected of involvement in terrorism: Algeria etc."