Human Rights Watch yesterday accused European countries, including Britain, of undermining human rights worldwide by courting countries such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia while ignoring evidence of their extensive abuses.

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Mr Roth describes Britain as being “complicit in torture” by sending terrorist suspects back to their native countries even when torture is commonplace. The British government has signed, or is still negotiating, memorandums of understanding with countries in the Middle East and North Africa in which they promise not to torture suspects sent from Britain.

But Human Rights Watch says the memorandums “are not worth the paper they are written on” and said it was impossible for the British government to monitor what happened to suspects returned to their native countries. “Round-the-clock monitoring might deny torturers an opportunity to ply their trade, but Blair, like the Bush government, contemplates only periodic monitoring.”

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(HRW’s World Report 2006 is available, with a number of podcasts, here.)