Government loses appeal over Binyam Mohamed torture disclosure
Court rejects government appeal over release of information former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed says proves UK complicity in his torture
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Wednesday, 10, Feb 2010 05:25
By Matthew Champion.
The government has lost an appeal against a high court ruling ordering the disclosure of information that a former Guantanamo Bay detainee claims proves UK complicity in his torture.
Three of the most senior judges in the country ruled the seven-paragraph CIA summary of the treatment of Binyam Mohamed should be published, overruling an appeal from foreign secretary David Miliband that its disclosure would threaten intelligence cooperation with the US and in turn national security.
Read the seven paragraphs in full
But in one of the first-ever instances of courts ignoring the government's claims over national security Igor Judge, the lord chief justice; Lord Neuberger, the master of the rolls; and Sir Anthony May, president of the Queen's Bench; said the "compelling" evidence went to the centre of the "fundamental importance [of] democratic accountability and ultimately the rule of law itself".
They said the material helped vindicate Mr Mohamed's assertion that UK authorities had been "involved in and facilitated the ill treatment and torture to which he was subjected while under the control of USA authorities".
The 31-year-old was released from Guantanamo on February 23rd 2009 after spending four and a half years at the Cuban-based US detention camp.
Mr Mohamed, who was born in Ethiopia and moved to London seeking political asylum in 1994, was arrested on a visa violation while travelling in Pakistan and handed over to US forces.
In July 2002 he was rendered to Morocco, where he spent the next 18 months undergoing what lawyers from legal charity Reprieve describe as "medieval" torture.
He said his lowest point came, however, when US torturers asked him about his life in London; information that could only have been provided by the British intelligence services.
The seven paragraphs the Foreign Office said it was publishing on its website relate to his treatment up until May 17th 2002 including sleep deprivation, threats and inducements and being shackled during interrogations. The three judges said the treatment amounted to "cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment".
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Miliband said that despite losing his appeal he was satisfied that the court had upheld the control principle of intelligence-sharing.
"At the heart of this case was the principle that if a country shares intelligence with another, that country must agree before its intelligence is released," Mr Miliband said.
"This 'control principle' is essential to the intelligence relationship between Britain and the US. The government fought the case to preserve this principle, and today's judgment upholds it."
On the issue of UK complicity in Mr Mohamed's torture Mr Miliband added: "Our position is clear; the UK firmly opposes torture or inhumane, cruel or degrading treatment.
"We are taking a lead role to eradicate torture internationally and by assisting other countries to do so. Where possible wrongdoing is found it is fully investigated."
In their ruling issued earlier, the judges had written: "In principle a real risk of serious damage to national security, of whatever degree, should not automatically trump a public interest in open justice which may concern a degree of facilitation by UK officials of interrogation using unlawful techniques which may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."
In January 2004 Mr Mohamed was transferred to a secret CIA prison near Kabul and subjected to extremely loud music 24 hours a day.
"It was pitch black, no lights on in the rooms for most of the time," he said of the ordeal.
"They hung me up for two days. My legs had swollen. My wrists and hands had gone numb. There was loud music, Slim Shady [by Eminem] and Dr Dre for 20 days. Then they changed the sounds to horrible ghost laughter and Halloween sounds. At one point, I was chained to the rails for a fortnight. The CIA worked on people, including me, day and night. Plenty lost their minds. I could hear people knocking their heads against the walls and the doors, screaming their heads off."
Mr Mohamed, who was taken to Guantanamo Bay in September 2004, insists he is "not asking for vengeance".
"Only that the truth should be made known," he said, "so that nobody in the future should have to endure what I have endured."
Human rights group Liberty has renewed calls for a public inquiry following the publication of the information.
Shami Chakrabarti, the group's director, said: "It has been clear for over a year that the Foreign Office has been more concerned with saving face than exposing torture. These embarrassing paragraphs reveal nothing of use to terrorists but they do show something of the UK government's complicity with the most shameful part of the war on terror.
"The government has gone to extraordinary lengths to cover up kidnap and torture. A full public inquiry is now inescapable."