Theresa May has apologised for the “appalling” treatment of a husband and wife who were the victims of a so-called rendition operation mounted with the help of MI6.

The attorney general, Jeremy Wright, read out a letter from the prime minister in which she apologised unreservedly to the Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhaj and his wife, Fatima Boudchar, on behalf of the government. He also announced that Boudchar, who was pregnant when the couple were kidnapped, would receive compensation of £500,000 for the UK’s role in her treatment. Belhaj had neither sought, nor received, a financial settlement. Boudchar watched from the Commons public gallery as the minister told MPs that, after mediation, the government had reached a full and final settlement with the couple, who had withdrawn their legal claim.(theguardian)…[+]