The British government bowed to paramilitary pressure by sanctioning a scheme of separating loyalist and republican prisoners at a Northern Ireland jail, a new report has claimed.
Fears of hunger strikers putting even greater strain on the fragile peace process led the authorities to go against security assessments of the situation inside Maghaberry Prison, MPs found.
The scathing Northern Ireland Affairs Committee report also attacked blocks on attempts to question top Downing Street officials on their role in the decision.
Members have now demanded no further concessions amid concerns that parts of the high security jail, near Lisburn, Co Antrim, will come under the control of paramilitaries.
Dissident republicans smeared excrement on their cell walls while loyalist bombers on the outside also attacked warders' homes during the stand-off.
The crisis inside the prison came as the political process in the North was plunged into political turmoil following the collapse of the Stormont power-sharing executive. With prisoners threatening mayhem, the committee accepted that making such concessions was understandable at the time. But it described the decision as "profoundly depressing".
The all-party report said: "We accept that the prevailing political conditions in Northern Ireland in the summer of 2003 placed the government in an extremely difficult position.
"Nonetheless we have to record our belief that the decision taken, as we see it, contrary to the balance of the facts and arguments presented to us, was a dangerous one."
Security Minister Ms Jane Kennedy told how prison service staff advised her that the regime was safe and that protests could be contained, the report found. Instead, a developing public perception of a regime under threat and attempts by political parties and religious leaders to pressurise the government was causing difficulties. - (PA)