UK Guantanamo inmate wins court battle

A UK Guantanamo Bay inmate has won a High Court battle to release material he says supports his case.

Binyam Mohamed, 30, who is in the US detention centre in Cuba, claims evidence against him has been obtained through torture. He could face a military trial at Guantanamo Bay which could lead to the death penalty.

At the London court, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones concluded that the Foreign Secretary is under a duty to "disclose in confidence" to Mr Mohamed's legal advisers in Guantanamo Bay certain information relating specifically to him "which is not only necessary but essential for his defence".

Earlier this month, the UK security services were accused at the High Court of failing to give a Parliamentary committee "the full picture" over what happened to Mr Mohamed.

The judges were told the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) had been led to believe by the security services that, at one stage, he was in US military custody when in fact he was being held and tortured in Morocco.

Mr Mohamed's lawyer, Ben Jaffey, said the security services initially told the ISC that his client iwas being held by the Americans in 2002 but new evidence from "Witness A", a member of the security services, showed he was "in the custody of a third country".

This led the ISC to believe it did not need to seek assurances about the safety of Mr Mohamed, who had been arrested in Pakistan, because they believed he was held by the Americans, who did not mistreat prisoners.

In fact Mr Mohamed had been rendered to Morocco where he was tortured, Mr Jaffey said, and accused the UK security services of becoming "mixed up in wrongdoing".

The US authorities deny he was subjected to either extraordinary rendition or torture.

The former Kensington caretaker alleges he was repeatedly slashed in the genitals with a razor blade while being held in Morocco.

Mr Jaffey said the UK security services knew Mr Mohamed was in "a third country", although the Americans had never disclosed to the British which one.

He told Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones the evidence of Witness A "confirms our concern that the ISC was not given the full picture".

The ISC was set up under the Intelligence Services Act 1994 to examine the policy, administration and expenditure of MI5 and the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).

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