Two of the country's senior judges have said the home secretary is able to hold terror suspects on the basis of intelligence from prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other US detention camps.

Human rights groups said Britain had, in effect, been given the green light to look for evidence from torture victims across the world.

The guidance emerged in the appeal court's decision to reject appeals from 10 foreign nationals held for more than two years without charge or trial in British prisons under emergency terror laws introduced by David Blunkett after the 11 September attacks.

Blunkett, writing in the Independent, says the ruling backs his policy on terrorism.

"As home secretary. I must balance legal theory with the practical job of protecting people," he says.