An inquiry into Britain's involvement in torture during the "war on terror" will not investigate whether UK forces handed over suspects to be transported to other countries for interrogation by the Americans – despite David Cameron's assurance that it would probe all aspects of the controversy.
The head of the Detainee Inquiry ordered by Mr Cameron has confirmed that he will not consider the issue of detainees transferred between forces fighting in Iraq and elsewhere, which has been identified by many critics as one of the murkiest elements of the "extraordinary rendition" saga.
Campaigners last night condemned the decision, which contradicts assurances made by the Prime Minister when he set up the inquiry last year.
Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the all-party group on extraordinary rendition, said: "To hold an inquiry into rendition without fully addressing detainee transfers is only doing half the job. We know that two detainees captured by UK forces, and... handed over to the US were rendered to Bagram in 2004. But we do not know how this was allowed to happen, if other instances have similarly slipped through the net, nor if the procedures in place are sufficient to prevent this from happening in the future."
This is the end. The final blood-soaked chapter of the genocide. It will be over soon....
