LONDON -- British ministers told the CIA they would only help the U.S. agency capture Osama bin Laden if it promised he would not be tortured, it was reported Saturday.

The British Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, believed it was close to finding the al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan in 1998 and again the following year, The Guardian reported.

The plan was for British agents to pass vital information about bin Laden to the CIA on condition that the CIA would promise to treat him humanely. However, the CIA never gave those assurances.

That information is revealed in a 75-page report generated by Parliament's intelligence and security committee on rendition, the practice of transporting suspects to places where they may be tortured.

The report slams the Bush administration's approval of practices which would be illegal if carried out by British agents.