‘THIS puts another nail in the coffin of the British government’s attempts to cover up its role’ in Binyam Mohamed’s treatment, Clive Stafford Smith, director of legal charity, Reprieve said yesterday.
He was referring to a recently declassified Washington district court document that accepted ‘credible’ evidence that Binyam was tortured at the behest of the US.
Stafford-Smith added: ‘Given that a US judge has found all this credible, and the US has refused to challenge or deny any of it, why does the UK continue to fight the release of the infamous “seven paragraphs” in the Binyam Mohamed judgment?
‘Presumably it is because those seven paragraphs expose the UK to great embarrassment.’
Documents have shown MI5 agents asked US counterparts to put questions to Mohamed at the time he alleges he was being tortured.
The US district court in Washington heard that most of the case against Saeed Farhi, a prisoner from Algeria who has been held at Guantánamo for almost eight years, came from statements made by Mohamed under duress.
In the opinion of Judge Gladys Kessler: ‘Binyam Mohamed stated that he was forced to make untrue statements about many detainees, including Mr Farhi.
‘Binyam Mohamed stated he made these statements because of “torture or coercion”, that he was “fed a large amount of information” while in detention and that he resorted to making up some stories. The (US) government does not challenge petitioner’s evidence of Binyam Mohamed’s abuse.’
Kessler added: ‘Even though the identity of the individual interrogators changed (from nameless Pakistanis, to Moroccans, to Americans …) there is no question that throughout his ordeal Binyam Mohamed was being held at the behest of the United States.’
