HUMAN rights lawyers condemned the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) yesterday for again refusing to bring charges against the British government over its role in the kidnapping and rendition of two Libyan families, including a pregnant woman and children, 12 years ago.

The al-Saadi and Belhaj families were abducted, forced onto planes and flown to the north African country in March 2004 in a joint operation by MI6 and the CIA.

Sami al-Saadi and Abdul-Hakim Belhaj were both prominent opponents of Colonel Muammar Gadaffi’s regime who had been living with their families in exile. They suffered years of torture after their forced return to Libya.

Recently the families demanded a review of a previous CPS decision not to prosecute, despite its finding that a senior British intelligence official was involved in the operation and had — to a limited extent — sought political approval for it.

Evidence of Britain’s central role in the operation emerged after Gadaffi fell from power in 2011.

Documents discovered in the office of Libyan spy chief Moussa Koussa included correspondence in which senior MI6 officer Sir Mark Allen took credit for the intelligence behind the operation.

In a fax to Mr Koussa, Sir Mark wrote: “I congratulate you on the safe arrival of … the air cargo [Mr Belhaj and his pregnant wife Fatima Boudchar].”

But, in a letter sent yesterday to the families’ lawyers at international human rights organisation Reprieve, the CPS director of legal services upheld the original decision not to bring charges.

Cori Crider, who represents the two families, said:

“This was exactly what we feared would happen when the CPS froze the victims out of the so-called ‘victims’ review.

“This was not a run-of-the-mill exercise. The lead suspect in Operation Lydd was a top MI6 official, the key witnesses included ministers and heads of our intelligence agencies.

“It was vital that the review command public confidence.

“Instead, the CPS flogged it through in seven weeks, without making even the feeblest attempt to engage the victims about their concerns. It looks like a complete stitch-up.”

Ms Crider noted that Director of Public Prosecution Alison Saunders “came into post saying that women and child victims got a ‘raw deal’ out of the justice system — and she promised to make it better,” adding: “The Belhaj and al-Saadi families have seen no sign that those words meant anything.”