SAS veteran: 'We held terror suspects before handing them over to US for rendition'

A former SAS soldier will claim today that British special forces are being used to detain suspects for extraordinary rendition.

Ben Griffin, 29, says the Government is "deeply involved" in the process, in which US forces have transported terror suspects around the world for interrogation, often to countries where they face interrogation under torture.

He left the Army on moral grounds at the beginning of last year after three months in Baghdad, saying he disagreed with the "illegal" tactics of US troops.

Last week Foreign Secretary David Miliband told MPs in the Commons that two US rendition flights transporting terrorist suspects had landed on British soil.

"We were under no illusion as to what awaited the individuals handed over by us.

"For the British to claim that they only became aware of the use of British territory this week is disingenuous. UK special forces are being used at the coalface to mine these individuals.

"The use of British territory as a stop-off during the rendition process pales into insignificance in light of the fact that it is often British soldiers detaining these individuals in the first place."

Despite years of denials the Government disclosed that two flights had refuelled on British territory, the island of Diego Garcia, in 2002.

Mr Miliband said the two flights had each been carrying a single suspect and six years on, one of the men is still being held by the US at Guantanamo Bay, while the other has been released. UK Daily Mail