British police give prosecutors file on Sami al-Saadi's rendition from Hong Kong to Libya

British police investigating the involvement of the country's foreign intelligence service in the secret abduction of Libyan suspects, including one taken from Hong Kong, and their forced return to Tripoli have handed over a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service.

The latest development in the inquiry comes the day after Abdul Hakim Belhaj, one of the men who was returned to Muammar Gaddafi's intelligence services, won the right to sue the British government in court over his treatment.

The Metropolitan police investigation, codenamed Operation Lydd, into the rendition of Libyan opposition activists in 2004 is considering the role of British officials in the combined operation by MI6 and the CIA.

Belhaj and another dissident, Sami al-Saadi, spent six years in jail and were, they say, frequently tortured.

In March 2004, Saadi - along with his wife and four young children - was forced onto a flight out of Chek Lap Kok to Tripoli. CIA documents detail the Hong Kong government's complicity with British and US spies involved in the rendition.

A Metropolitan police spokesman said: "The submission of the file is part of the ongoing investigative process and should not be taken to indicate that the police investigation is yet concluded."