Fatima Boudchar was heavily pregnant with her son, Abderrahim, when she was tortured

The government is facing a legal challenge over its use of a secretive law that can authorise the involvement of British intelligence officers in torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

A section of the Intelligence Services Act 1994 allows ministers to permit British personnel to commit criminal acts abroad.

In June two reports from parliament’s intelligence and security committee revealed that current and former cabinet ministers including Theresa May, Philip Hammond and Boris Johnson said they could authorise operations even when there was a serious risk of complicity in torture or mistreatment.

The committee reports also detailed hundreds of cases of British involvement in torture and mistreatment and uncovered that MI6 and GCHQ routinely apply for such authorisations when they become aware that their