'I was tortured in medieval ways' claims British detainee

Binyam Mohamed alleges he was forced to falsely confess to terrorist activities and claims MI5 officers were complicit in his abuse.

Mr Mohamed, 30, landed at RAF Northolt in north-west London just after 1pm yesterday and, despite fears for his health following a hunger strike, was able to walk from the aircraft without needing support.

He was dressed in casual clothes and clutched what appeared to be a document holder as he made his way to the terminal building.

Mr Mohamed was detained under Port and Border Controls, part of the Terrorism Act 2000, when he arrived – but was not arrested, Scotland Yard said.

It is understood officers hope to deal with his paperwork at RAF Northolt to avoid any need for him to be taken to the maximum security police station at Paddington Green in London.

Since September 2004 he has been held at the controversial US military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The government requested his release and a team of British officials went to Guantanamo Bay recently to check he was well enough to travel back to the UK. In a statement, Mr Mohamed said: "It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways – all orchestrated by the United States government.

"For myself, the very worst moment came when I realised in Morocco that the people who were torturing me were receiving questions and materials from British intelligence."

Ethiopian-born Mr Mohamed, who lived in London before his arrest in Pakistan in 2002, said he was neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media immediately.

He is planning to spend the next few days with his family and legal team.

"I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares," he said.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was pleased Mr Mohamed had returned to the UK and said it followed "intensive negotiations with the US government".

"In reaching this decision we have paid full consideration to the need to maintain national security and the government's overriding responsibilities in this regard," he said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown also stressed that the "security of the country will be protected", but declined to say whether Mr Mohamed would face any restrictions on his liberty.

At a press conference in central London, Kate Allen, director of Amnesty International UK, called for an independent inquiry into Britain's role in secret detention and rendition programmes.

And Clive Stafford Smith, Mr Mohamed's UK lawyer, said he was "absolutely" convinced of the former detainee's innocence.

"If anyone wants to put him on trial, in the immortal words of George Bush, bring them on," he said.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said it was "very important that we get to the root of all this".

"Is he still some kind of security risk, in which case what precautions are going to be taken about it, or is he no risk at all, in which case what has everybody been going on about for the last few years and why has the government changed their minds?"

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said the government was now "out of excuses for delaying a full inquiry" and added that "Mohamed's case may just be the tip of the iceberg".

"It is telling that David Miliband is unable to give a straightforward yes or no as to whether British agents and officials have been complicit in torture," he said.

A US Department of Justice spokesman confirmed Mr Mohamed was the first Guantanamo detainee to be transferred under the review of all Guantanamo detainees directed by US President Barack Obama.

I HAVE been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares.

"Before this ordeal, 'torture' was an abstract word to me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim. It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways – all orchestrated by the United States government.

"My own despair was greatest when I thought that everyone had abandoned me. I have a duty to make sure that nobody else is forgotten. I am grateful that in the end I was not simply left to my fate.

"I am grateful to the members of the British Foreign Office who worked for my release. And I want to thank people around Britain who wrote to me in Guantanamo Bay to keep my spirits up.

"I know I would not be home in Britain today if it were not for everyone's support. Indeed, I might not be alive at all.

"I wish I could say that it is all over, but it is not. There are still 241 Muslim prisoners in Guantanamo.

"For myself, the very worst moment came when I realised in Morocco that the people who were torturing me were receiving questions and materials from British intelligence.

"I had met with British intelligence in Pakistan. I had been open with them. Yet the very people who I had hoped would come to my rescue, I later realised, had allied themselves with my abusers.

"I am not asking for vengeance; only that the truth should be made known, so that nobody in the future should have to endure what I have endured.