London, 19 Oct. (AKI) - Human rights groups say British ministers are "dangerously misguided" if they expect Libya to respect a 'no torture, no death penalty' deal signed on Tuesday, which will allow terror suspects to be deported back to the north African country. Despite the newly signed agreement, the British Foreign Office's website continued to highlight concerns over the Libyan government's human rights record, mentioning in particular the "restrictions on political prisoners, arbitrary detention and conditions in Libyan prisons," the London-based Guardian newspaper reports.

The memorandum of understanding between the two countries allows Britain to deport people to Libya if the Libyan government gives diplomatic assurances that they will not be subjected to torture. Unlike a similar deal signed with Jordan in August, it also explicitly states that the death penalty will not be used on deportees, but a monitoring body to assure that Libya keeps its assurances has yet to be set up.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) organisation says that in the case of past assurances given by Egypt, Syria and other countries with a record of torturing detainees, such promises actually do nothing to reduce the risk of people being tortured in custody.

"Britain can't hide behind the fig leaf of Libyan diplomatic promises," said Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East and North Africa director. "Deporting suspects to Libya would put them at serious risk of torture."

It is thought that five Libyans arrested two weeks ago in Britain and classed as "threats to national security" could be the first people to be deported under the deal. However, lawyers for the five men say they will fight their deportation as all of them are opponents of Libyan leader Colonel Ghaddafi's regime. They were reportedly involved in the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an armed opposition group which claimed responsibility for an unsuccessful attempt to kill Libya's leader, Muammer Gadaffi in 1996.

Both Libya and Britain are parties to the Convention against Torture and Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which prohibits torture and the transfer, return or expulsion of persons to countries where there are substantial grounds for believing they would be in danger of being tortured.

Human Rights Watch says it has heard testimonies from people in Libya who were beaten, hung from walls and given electric shocks.

Torture is practiced in secret, those who carry it out are generally very good at avoiding detection, and neither a receiving or sending country has any incentive to expose such abuse, says HRW, as this would involve admitting that they have both violated their obligations.

"Britain's policy of shipping unwelinfoe foreigners to countries that practice torture is illegal and immoral, regardless of unenforceable promises that deportees will not be tortured," said Whitson.

Human rights groups also point out that the Britain-Libya deal does not mention how individuals will be protected from cruel or degrading treatment after they have been tried.

Their protests follow a warning by the UN's special rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, in which he expressed alarm about Britain's plans to rely on such assurances from countries with poor records on torture. The new policy "reflects a tendency in Europe to circumvent the international obligation not to deport anybody if there is a serious risk that he or she might be subjected to torture," Nowak said.

Britain has been trying to strike a similar deal with Algeria, but with little success. Most of the terror suspects facing deportation in Britain are from Algeria, the Guardian says.