British police probe torture allegations by former Gitmo prisoner
Last Updated: Thursday, March 26, 2009 | 12:14 PM ET
CBC News
Police will investigate allegations that the British government was complicit in the torture of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, the U.K. attorney general announced on Thursday.
Attorney General Patricia Scotland told British legislators on Thursday that police have been ordered to begin an inquiry into Binyam Mohamed's allegations that an officer from Britain's domestic security agency, MI-5, knew he had been tortured.
Mohamed, 31, claims he was tortured in Pakistan and Morocco before he was transferred to the prison at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2004. He alleges British intelligence supplied questions to his interrogators and that he told an MI-5 officer — known in court hearings as Witness B — that he was being tortured.
Scotland began an inquiry into the case in October at the request of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Brown has said Britain does not condone the use of torture and that if soldiers or spies are found to have broken any laws on the treatment of detainees they could face prosecution.
In a statement issued to the British MPs, Stephenson said that London police commissioner Paul Stephenson is investigating if there is evidence to suggest that anyone should face criminal charges in connection with Mohamed's allegations.
'Only following orders'
Mohamed, who is currently residing at an undisclosed location in the U.K., issued a statement on Thursday, saying he is pleased with the announced inquiry.
"I'm very pleased that an inquiry is taking place, [but] I feel very strongly that we shouldn't scapegoat the little people or blame Witness B — he was only following orders," Mohamed said.
Mohamed was born in Ethiopia and moved to Britain at age 16, where he was granted residency.
He later converted to Islam and travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan, where U.S. officials allege he fought alongside Taliban forces and later attended al-Qaeda training camps. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2002.
Mohamed was accused of plotting to set bombs. But last year the Pentagon dismissed all charges against him. He said he confessed only after being tortured.
He was released from Guantanamo in February.
Cut with razor blades
Mohamed has said that while being held in Morocco his interrogators asked him questions about things that only British intelligence agents could have known.
During that time, Mohamed said he was also beaten and cut with razor blades, including hundreds of times on his genitals.
He has also alleged that two Canadians might have been involved in the torture.
Britain has denied it had knowledge of Mohamed's alleged torture or abuse. It also has said it only learned that Mohamed had been sent to Morocco to be interrogated a year after he had already been in Guantanamo.
Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs has also said it has no knowledge of the allegations.
Mohamed's legal team has been pressing for the release of dozens of classified documents they say prove the United States sent Mohamed to Morocco where he was tortured and that Britain knew of the mistreatment — a violation under the 1994 United Nations Convention Against Torture.
Britain has refused to release 42 documents related to Mohamed, following a court ruling and statements from the U.S. government that doing so might harm the countries' intelligence-sharing agreements.
The U.S. has also refused to provide classified documents, which are alleged to be related to Mohamed's torture, to his lawyers.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
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