Amnesty warned UK about torture a yr ago

"We have had a series of meetings and correspondence with the government over this for a year now. Now it is saying it only became aware of the allegations in February," an Amnesty spokesman said here.

On Saturday the government said it had received in February a confidential report from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) detailing the abuse of Iraqi detainees by US and British troops.

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"The UK Government has known about allegations of torture and one death by British troops since last May," Amnesty said.

It said it had sent a memorandum to the Ministry of Defence in May 2003 reporting the death and torture of Iraqi detainees.

Senior staff had met defence and Foreign Office officials in June and a further memorandum had been sent to Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in July and a letter in October expressing concern, it said.

"Amnesty met with the Ministry of Defence in June 2003 to discuss the allegations. But instead of an impartial and civilian-led inquiry to get to the truth, we continue to see secretive investigations by the Royal Military Police who lack the independence that international law demands," the group's spokesman said.

The charges were taken up by the defence spokesman for the opposition Conservative Party, Nicholas Soames.