J-Flag, a Jamaican gay rights group, believes that violent lyrics have contributed to attacks upon and even murders of gay men and lesbians in Britain. Campaigners across Europe and the United States say their protests against the controversial stars are now bearing fruit.

Puma, the sportswear company, last week announced that it would not support singers who performed songs with antigay lyrics or made "hate statements of any sort," following controversy over Buju Banton's appearance at an Olympics show it was sponsoring.

Last week tobacco giant R.J. Reynolds dropped Beenie Man from a tour it had organized in the U.S., saying it did not "tolerate this or any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation."

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The allegation is contained in a new dossier detailing repeated beatings and humiliation suffered by three Britons who were captured in Afghanistan, then held in Guantánamo Bay for two years, before being released in March without charge.

Rhuhel Ahmed, one of the "Tipton Three," claims in the 115-page dossier that shortly after his capture in November 2001 he was interviewed in Afghanistan by a British interrogator who said he was from the SAS. Mr Ahmed alleges he was taken by US guards to be interrogated by the British officer in a tent. "One of the US soldiers had a gun to his head and he was told if he moved they would shoot him," the report says. The SAS officer pressed him to admit he had gone to Afghanistan to fight a holy war. Last night the Ministry of Defence said it would investigate the allegation.

A spokesman said: "The British army follows the rules laid out in the Geneva convention and soldiers are told to follow that. It is not permissible to point guns at people's heads during interrogation. We would investigate if any allegation of that nature is made."

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