The British government has persuaded four other European countries to help challenge a ruling from the European court of human rights that prevents sending foreign terrorist suspects back to countries where they could face torture.
Along with Britain, the governments of Italy, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovakia have been given permission to intervene in a case already lodged against the Netherlands by Mohammed Ramzy, a 22-year-old Algerian suspected of involvement in terrorism who is challenging deportation.
The issue of torture was also being considered in a separate case which started yesterday before the House of Lords involving some of the terrorist suspects the government wants to deport.
Lawyers for eight of 10 men - known as the Belmarsh detainees - who were originally held without charge under the Anti-Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001, asked a panel of seven law lords to rule that any evidence obtained by foreign states using torture cannot be used in courts in the UK.
Ben Emmerson, QC for the men, is challenging a court of appeal ruling last year that if evidence were obtained under torture by agents of another country with no involvement by the UK, it was usable and there was no obligation to inquire about its origins.
