A Sussex anti-war activist has won a “partial victory” in her fight to prevent Britain handing over Taliban suspects to the Afghan authorities.

Maya Evans, from St Leonards, said the policy had led to “horrible abuse” of detainees, violating international law and human rights.

However the High Court judges refused to rule the transfer policy unlawful and said it could continue, other than to a Kabul site subject to an existing ban, if safeguards were strengthened.

The government has welcomed the decision and said monitoring was in place.

Ms Evans’ lawyers told the court that detainees transferred to the National Directorate of Security (NDS), a secret service organisation in Afghanistan, had suffered beatings, electrocution, sleep deprivation and undergone whipping with rubber cables.

The judges refused to rule the transfer policy unlawful, considering instead the individual history of each NDS detention facility - NDS Kabul, NDS Kandahar and NDS Lashkar Gah.

They said: "There is a real risk that detainees transferred to NDS Kabul will be subjected to torture or serious mistreatment."

They said transfers could lawfully be made to the other two sites if “existing safeguards are strengthened.”

Ms Evans is a prominent peace activist who was arrested for reading out the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq during a protest at the Cenotaph in London.

She said: "We are very pleased with the outcome. Transfers to Kabul have stopped as a result of this case and transfers to Kandahar and Lashkar Gah are now subject to conditions.

"We are really pleased that there has been change in policy as a result of this case and that the court has said that there is a serious risk of torture and mistreatment and that this policy must be in place to ensure that mistreatment doesn't occur."