A top secret report revealing the extent of torture meted out to Britons accused of bombings in Saudi Arabia was circulating at the highest levels of the UK government a year ago but ministers decided to suppress the evidence, according to the Guardian newspaper.
The report described how the Britons were subjected to physical assaults, including beating on the soles of their feet - confirming accounts published by the Guardian. It also included unflattering comments about Prince Naif, the Saudi Interior Minister, suggesting he was a protagonist of torture and an anti-western conservative.
The highly classified report provoked a furious debate in Whitehall between officials who wanted the government to go public, and others who warned it would damage Britain's relations with a key ally.
The Prime Minister, Mr Blair, responded by sending Mr John Sawers, then a Foreign Office official, and Lady Symons, then minister for arms procurement, on secret but unsuccessful missions to Riyadh to try to secure the release of the Britons. The Foreign Office confirmed yesterday that on their visits last September they had met "senior Saudi authorities". But a letter to one of the families from a Foreign Office consular official - seen by the Guardian - reveals that Mr Blair's envoys had met Crown Prince Abdullah, the de facto ruler of the country. The letter also claimed Mr Blair had raised the matter with the crown prince on his flying visit to Riyadh on October 31st.
MI6 officers also tried to apply pressure on the Saudi government, according to Whitehall sources. Britain has a close intelligence relationship with the regime, which is one of the biggest markets for British arms.
Though five Britons were released last year, five remain in jail. They are Sandy Mitchell, Jimmy Cottle, James Lee, Les Walker - who appeared in staged televised confessions - and Peter Brandon.
It was revealed yesterday how Saudi secret police under the control of Prince Naif tortured three British suspects as they sought confessions to the wave of bombings against Westerners. They were part of a circle of illicit drinkers and the Saudis claim they were engaged in a bootleggers' turf war. But Whitehall officials make it plain that the most likely perpetrators were Saudi supporters of Osama bin Laden.
Whitehall's description of Prince Naif as being anti-western does not imply any sympathy with Bin Laden, whose support among young Saudis is causing concern to the Saudi royal family and its 7,000 princes.