Torture: 'Ministers were told a year ago'

The group said it had held ongoing talks with the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign Office since last May.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon will make a statement to the House of Commons today after the Government admitted on Saturday that the Red Cross told it about alleged abuses in February.

Mr Hoon was already facing questions on what the Government knew. But the pressure has now intensified after the Amnesty claims.

The latest allegations are another devastating blow to the Prime Minister after an opinion poll yesterday showed that Labour could not win an overall majority at the next General Election with him as leader.

Last night, Mr Blair apologised to any Iraqi prisoners abused by British soldiers.

The Prime Minister said any such action was "absolutely and totally unacceptable" but insisted the vast majority of British soldiers had behaved well.

"We apologise deeply to anyone who has been mistreated by any of our soldiers," he told French television during a trip to Paris to mark Europe Day.

"That is absolutely and totally unacceptable. Those who are responsible for this - if they behaved in this appalling way - will be punished according to the Army discipline and rules."

He added: "I hope people understand, though, that is not what the majority of soldiers are doing there."

Amnesty said it wrote to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) a year ago claiming Iraqi prisoners had been tortured - and one killed - in British custody.

It met the MoD and Foreign Office last June to underline its concerns and received a written follow-up two weeks later.

The campaign group then sent the Government an exhaustive memo detailing the allegations in July. And it wrote directly to Mr Hoon in October warning him of "torture and death" in custody. It received a reply from the Government later that month promising an investigation.

Amnesty said: "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.

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

"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 MoD was unable to confirm the discussions. But Shadow Defence Secretary Nicholas Soames said Mr Hoon must reveal whether Mr Blair was made aware of the allegations.

Mr Hoon's Commons appearance comes within a week of a statement on the abuse claims by Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram. It was sparked by a string of photographs in the Daily Mirror of British troops apparently abusing Iraqi prisoners.

Mr Hoon has come under pressure to make a fresh statement after No 10 admitted it was given a report by the Red Cross on abuse months before the storm over the Mirror pictures.

On Friday, it also emerged that the Red Cross had warned US officials of abuses more than a year ago.

Much of the abuse took place in US-controlled areas. But some allegedly occurred in British-controlled Basra.

A leaked copy of the Red Cross report described prisoners kept naked in total darkness at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison - under US control - and male prisoners forced to parade around in women's underwear. Coalition forces also fired on unarmed prisoners from watchtowers, killing some of them.

Worryingly for the British Government it also said nine men were beaten severely in Basra, leading to one death.

The Ministry of Defence has rejected demands to release the report saying it was confidential.

Former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook joined calls for the report to be published. He said it was intolerable that the US and British public only knew of the contents because of leaks to the Press.

"This is a democracy," he said. "We are just implementing the Freedom of Information Act."