ATHENS, Dec 13: A prominent Greek lawyer on Tuesday accused British security forces of illegally detaining Pakistanis living in Greece days after suicide bombings in London in July.

Fragiskos Ragoussis, one of the country’s best known criminal lawyers, submitted a file to the Greek parliament on the allegations, automatically triggering a parliamentary investigation.

Mr Ragoussis, who is also a defence attorney for members of Greece’s once-feared Nov 17 leftist guerilla group, alleged that 28 Pakistani men were arrested, detained up to a week and interrogated on Greek soil by British security officials.

The British embassy in Athens refused to comment on the allegations, saying it was a matter for the Greek authorities.

“It is Her Majesty’s government’s well established policy not to comment or enter into media speculation about the alleged operations of the UK’s security and intelligence services, no matter how far-fetched - as it is in this case,” it said in a statement.

Greek police said they had no complaints about the incident, which allegedly took place days after suicide bombers killed 52 people in coordinated attacks in London on July 7.

But prosecutors ordered a preliminary investigation, which is standard procedure when accusations are laid before parliament.

“The file submitted by Mr Ragoussis has a series of accusations against British security forces and was submitted today,” said a parliamentary official who saw the document at the office of parliamentary speaker Anna Psarouda-Benaki.

A parliamentary source said Ragoussis’s aim was that his file would force Greek ministers to answer questions on record in the chamber about the alleged incident.

CORROBORATION: The file was supported by the president of the Pakistani community in Greece, who said 28 people were taken from their homes by Greek-speaking officials last July.

They were put under hoods and were interrogated, some for up to a week by English-speaking officials at an undisclosed location in Greece, he said.

“All 28 are men and I have spoken with many of them,” Pakistani community leader Jawed Aslam said. “They were taken away from the homes in Athens, the towns of Ioannina and Inofyta near Athens and were kept for several days.”

“The people in Athens were driven around for about one hour and taken somewhere in or near the capital. The two people in charge of the operation were English-speaking.”

Mr Ragoussis could not be reached for comment, but his office did confirm he had submitted the file to parliament.—Reuters