A secret memorandum of understanding between the UK and US on the treatment of prisoners captured in Iraq has been released for the first time.
The 2008 document is one of a series of documents revealed through freedom of information requests put in by the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition.
Andrew Tyrie, Conservative MP for Chichester and chair of the committee, welcomed the release: "More than three years after I first requested information on rendition from the Ministry of Defence it has finally been required to disclose much of it.
"It reveals a catalogue of MoD mishaps and failures, including a failure to track detainees handed over to the US, a weakening of protections for those handed over and a failure to keep proper records.
"The MoD's reliance on US standards of treatment, known to be lower than those of the UK, is of serious concern. In the past, practices such as waterboarding, which would amount to torture under UK standards, have been declared lawful by the US. The UK's exclusion of protections which allowed it to demand the return of people handed over to the US also removes an important safeguard against abuse.
"The documents reveal that from March 2003 – June 2004 there was no tracking of detainees handed over to the US. They show that full records on detainee handovers in Iraq were not seen or analysed during MoD investigations.
"The government's reliance on these separate arrangements to justify excluding detainee transfers from the remit of Sir Peter Gibson's inquiry is flawed. They cannot give the public confidence that we have got to the bottom of UK involvement in rendition."
"We already knew that UK forces had been involved in rendition. These documents reveal many of the circumstances which allowed this to happen. They also show how protections in place for handovers to the US were weakened and are inadequate."
The UK-US 2008 memorandum of understanding (MOU) contains specific reference to transfers out of the country. It states that :"US forces will not remove transferred detainees from Iraq without prior consultation with the UK government". Consultation, Tyrie pointed out, was not the same as approval.
The MOU also states: "US forces will not proceed with the transfer where there are reasonable ground to believe that it is more likely than not the transferred detainee will be subject to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."