Inquiry call over bin Laden photo

Gaspar Llamazares, of Spain's communist-run United Left party, rejected an apology from the US ambassador yesterday.

"Apologies are not enough," he said. "I want a thorough investigation into this disgraceful case, which not only causes concern but also worry and indignation over the behaviour of the FBI," he said, adding that he did not rule out legal action.

The FBI used parts of a photo of Mr Llamazares taken from Google Images to create a digitally modified image of the al- Qaida terror leader for a new wanted poster, which appeared on the State Department website and offered a reward of up to 25 million dollars.

The FBI said the forensic artist had been unable to find suitable features among the reference photographs of bin Laden, and in part used features from a photograph found online.

It has since removed the doctored photo from the site but Mr Llamazares said he wanted guarantees the images were not still in the hands of intelligence services at airports or other places abroad.

He said it bothered him to think what would have happened if the FBI had used the photo of an ordinary person, and not a public figure.

"Most likely an unknown citizen on stepping into an airport would have received a good fright, if not something worse," the politician said. "If this is how security against terrorism is guaranteed, whose hands are we in?"

Mr Llamazares, known as an anti-war activist in Spain, said he also wanted to know if the FBI had a habit of keeping files on left wing politicians in the US, Europe, Latin American or elsewhere.