Spy chiefs accused in terror case

Published on Thursday 21 August 2008 22:35

A BRITISH resident being held in Guantanamo Bay was detained and interrogated in Pakistan six years ago with the collusion of British security services, the High Court ruled yesterday.

The case concerns Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian national.

Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones found that the British security service had "facilitated interviews by or on behalf of the United States incommunicado and without access to a lawyer in Pakistan" – something that is illegal under Pakistani law.

The judges ordered the Foreign Secretary to release information held on Mr Mohamed to his legal team, who say their client was tortured in Pakistan and Morocco before being sent to Guantanamo. The judges said that, without the information, Mr Mohamed would find it difficult to defend himself from serious charges based on confessions made by him at Bagram air base in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay in 2004.

Mr Mohamed, 30, has been charged with terrorism offences and could face the death penalty if found guilty by a United States military tribunal.