The Guardian newspaper last week revealed how the British M15 sercret service “outsourced” the torture of British citizens of Pakistani origin to Pakistan’s intelligence agency. This was after they had been detained during counter-terror operations in Pakistan.

Rangzieb Ahmed had three of his fingernails ripped out by the Pakistani agents in an attempt to get answers to questions drawn up by MI5 and the Greater Manchester Police. He was later deported to Britain and jailed for terrorist offences.

While in prison he was visited by an MI5 officer and a police officer who offered to secure a reduction in his sentence or a payment of money if he withdrew his accusations of torture. This is not a one-off case. British resident Binyam Mohamed was tortured with Britain’s help before being sent to Guantánamo Bay. There are numerous other examples of British collusion in torture.

It seems that officers have been operating in line with a government interrogation policy drawn up for MI5 and MI6 officers in the wake of the attacks of 11 September 2001.

The attorney general has since called in Scotland Yard to investigate possible criminal conduct on the part of the officer involved in Mohamad’s case and those who managed him. But as Binyam Mohamad has said “the individual officers involved should not be scapegoated.”

Tony Blair was the prime minister when the policy was drawn up. He must have understood this policy would result in individuals being tortured. They deserve justice. We deserve to know how far our government was complicit in this torture.

The “war on terror” has cost hundreds of thousands of lives.

It has also increased the level of insecurity and mistrust in the Muslim community. The very people that are meant to uphold the law are torturing innocent British citizens for no other reason than their being Muslim.

See Ian Cobain's Guardian front page article on MI5 collusion in torture.