FORMER Blackburn MP Jack Straw could be sued by a Libyan dissident over torture allegations, a court has ruled.

The former foreign secretary along with MI6 and the government could face claims following a Supreme Court decision.

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It comes after the government attempted to block a damages claim by a Libyan dissident and his wife who allege the UK participated in their abduction and took them to Tripoli against their will during the days of Colonel Gaddafi’s regime more than a decade ago.

Mr Straw insisted he was never in any way complicit in the unlawful rendition or detention of anyone by other states.

Lawyers for Abdel Hakim Belhaj and his Moroccan wife Fatima Boudchar argue they were the victims of secret rendition in a joint MI6/CIA operation.

They name Sir Mark Allen, MI6’s counter-terrorism chief at the time they were snatched in 2004, in their claim which is against the Home Office and Foreign Office.

The couple have offered to settle for a token £1, an apology and an admission of liability. Liability is denied.

Government lawyers had argued the Belhaj claims should be barred under state immunity and the ‘act of state’ doctrine, which prohibits the courts of one country sitting in judgment on the acts of the government of another one within its own territory.

The High Court ruled the claims should be struck out but the Court of Appeal reversed the ruling in October 2014.

The judges said there was a ‘compelling public interest’ in allegations of unlawful rendition being investigated by the English courts.

That decision was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Mr Straw said: “This judgment is about some important points of law, related to how far it is possible to bring into a court process in the UK actions of sovereign states abroad.

“However, at no stage so far have the merits of the applicant’s case been tested before any court.

“That can only happen when the trial of the action itself takes place.

“I repeat what I said in the Commons in December 2013, that as foreign secretary I acted at all times in a manner which was fully consistent with my legal duties and with national and international law.”