The Church of England archbishops have combined to deliver an extraordinary rebuke to the British government over the abuse of Iraq prisoners by Western security forces in Iraq, the British Times newspaper reported on Wednesday.

On behalf of all Church of England bishops, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Archbishop of York David Hope wrote a letter to accuse the government of "double standards" and give warning that the credibility of the government was at risk over the treatment of Iraqi detainees.

"It is clear that the apparent breach of international law in relation to the treatment of Iraqi detainees had been deeply damaging," the paper quoted the strongly worded letter as saying.

"The appearance of double standards inevitably diminishes the credibility of Western governments with the people of Iraq and of the Islamic world more generally," said the letter, written with the unanimous support of all the Church's 120 diocesan, suffragan and assistant bishops.

"More fundamentally still, there is a wider risk to our own integrity if we no longer experience a sense of moral shock at theenormity of what appears to have been inflicted on those who were in the custody of western security forces," it added.

In the letter, the archbishops also urged for progress in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, warning of the danger of losing Britain's role as an "honest-broker" in the conflict.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's office has confirmed that it received the letter, saying the archbishops were "entitled to their own views" and Blair would reply in due course.

A Church of England spokesman said that the letter had not beenintended for publication.

Anglican bishops showed a rare unanimity in condemning the Iraqwar from the start.

In a sermon in Cambridge recently, Williams said that Blair wasin danger of eroding public trust in Britain's political system.

The latest letter, designed to influence the conduct of Westernsecurity forces, was the strongest to date.

Source: Xinhua