The British government is embroiled in a new renditioning controversy following the capture of the Libyan capital of Tripoli by rebel forces.

The point of contention: Britain's alleged renditioning of Libyan terror suspects to Tripoli in earlier years.

Documents found in Tripoli by journalist and human rights workers, the authenticity of which have yet to be verified, appear to indicate at least eight Libyans detained abroad by the British intelligence service MI6 in 2003-2004 were sent to Libya for interrogation about their links to al-Qaida despite repeated British government insistence it had no role in the practice used at the time by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Britain was "very clear, and that was that we were opposed to unlawful rendition, we were opposed to any use of torture or similar methods," Jack Straw, Britain's foreign minister at the time, said in a recent radio interview. "Not only did we not agree with it, we were not complicit in it and nor did we turn a blind eye to it."

But roiling the waters in Parliament are not just any renditions Britain may have conducted in the war on terrorism. The controversy centers on the links and cooperation between British intelligence and the regime of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Gadhafi's regime was once a state sponsor of terrorism -- including the destruction of a commercial airliner over Britain in 1988 -- and branded internationally for its violation of human rights.

Britain since February has been a chief supporter of Libyan rebels who have been fighting to topple Gadhafi and have military forces participating in helping remove the dictator.

"It is important that nobody rushes to judgment," Prime Minister David Cameron said in Parliament Monday. "In 2003, two years after 9/11, you had the situation where there was a Libyan terrorist group that was allied to al-Qaida. At that time our security services were working to keep us safe."

But Cameron also promised an investigation into the matter.

The documents -- reports, notes, memos, faxes -- were discovered by journalists and members of Human Rights Watch in the offices of Libya's external service and former Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa.

One of them included what appeared to be a note from an MI6 official to Koussa, noting the handover to Libya in 2004 of one Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, who was picked up by British intelligence while attempting to fly from Malaysia to Britain.

Belhaj was a leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, a dissident organization that had sent gunman to Afghanistan and Iraq to help al-Qaida fight coalition forces.

Belhaj, released from a Libyan prison in 2010 through a de-radicalization and reintegration program run by one of Gadhafi's sons, is the rebel commander whose forces seized Tripoli last month.

The rebel commander, who insists he and the faction of the LIFG to which he belonged have rejected Islamist terrorism, is demanding an apology from Britain for his rendition and is considering suing for damages.

Another man who was renditioned to Libya by Britain was the FIFG's spiritual leader who was nabbed in Hong Kong. He was reportedly sent back to Libya after Hong Kong authorities received assurances he would not be tortured in Libya.

Although the rendition was a British affair, documents seized purportedly indicate the Central Intelligence Agency offered to help with costs and logistics for sending the man to Libya for questioning.

The investigation is just beginning. More revelations are sure to come despite Britain's notoriously strict secrecy codes.

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