UK to investigate torture claim

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The attorney general has been asked to probe claims that the last remaining UK resident held at Guantanamo Bay was tortured into a confession.

Binyam Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian who came to the UK as a refugee aged 15, was arrested in Pakistan in 2002.

The High Court has said there was an arguable case he was tortured in Morocco before arriving at Guantanamo.

The High Court was told that the US denied subjecting him to torture or extraordinary rendition to Morocco.

Mr Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in April 2002 as he tried to return to the UK and was questioned by an MI5 officer the following month.

'Possible wrongdoing'

But there is a gap in evidence about his location until May 2004 when he was transferred to Afghanistan and was later moved to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in September 2004.

He says during the missing two years he was moved to Morocco and Afghanistan and tortured - and as a result he confessed to terrorist activities.

The US alleges he travelled to Afghanistan in May 2001 and trained at an al-Qaeda camp and accepted instructions from al-Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to conduct terror operations in the US.

It seems the increasing likelihood of a progressive White House is forcing the government to clean up its act, on everything from Guantanamo Bay to Diego Garcia Edward DaveyLiberal Democrats

It has said the allegations of torture were "not credible" but has refused to disclose where he was held between May 2002 and May 2004, the High Court said.

Mr Mohamed has been involved in a legal battle to try to get the British government to release documents which he believes will support his case.

This week the Treasury solicitor wrote in a letter to the High Court judges involved: "We write to inform the court that the question of possible criminal wrongdoing to which these proceedings has given rise has been referred by the home secretary to the attorney general for consideration as an independent minister of justice."

Charges dropped

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has sent Baroness Scotland open and closed court documents to help with the investigation.

The Liberal Democrats' foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said Ms Smith should make a Commons statement on whether British MI5 officers were involved.

"Many have suspected the government has been covering up the extent of British involvement in practices like illegal detention and extraordinary rendition," he said.

"It seems the increasing likelihood of a progressive White House is forcing the government to clean up its act, on everything from Guantanamo Bay to Diego Garcia. But it is too little too late."

Earlier this month the US military dropped all charges against Mr Mohamed but his lawyers believe he will be charged again within a month, with new military prosecutors involved.

Legal charity Reprieve says the charges have been dropped because military prosecutor Lt Col Darrel Vandeveld - who resigned last month - complained about evidence favourable to Mr Mohamed being suppressed.

The Pentagon argues that intervention by new military prosecutors has addressed the concerns raised by Lt Col Vandeveld, says Reprieve.

The government requested in August 2007 that Mr Mohamed be returned to the UK. He came to the UK as an asylum seeker in 1994 and his asylum claim was never finally determined but he was given leave to remain.