Detainee brother feels 'betrayed'

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Detainee brother feels 'betrayed'

The brother of a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay has said he feels "betrayed" by David Miliband.

Dr Benhur Mohamed said he had written to the foreign secretary asking him to help his 30-year-old brother Binyam, who claims he was tortured.

Dr Mohamed said it was "very cruel" of him not to reply.

Mr Miliband has defended his decision not to release details of the case on national security grounds. He will make a statement to MPs at about 1215 GMT.

Binyam Mohamed has been held at Guantanamo Bay for four years after being accused by the US authorities of planning a terrorist attack.

It's very cruel from a person who is elected to protect humanity and freedom and the rule of law

Dr Benhur Mohamed


Profile: Binyam Mohamed
Tensions over Guantanamo case

He alleges he was tortured while being questioned in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan, and that UK intelligence agencies were complicit in the practice.

On Wednesday, two British judges claimed that the US had threatened to stop sharing intelligence with the UK if it made public details of Mr Mohamed's treatment.

But the foreign secretary said there had been "no threat" from the US and insisted that intelligence co-operation "depends on confidentiality".

'Begging'

Speaking to the BBC, Dr Mohamed said he believed Mr Miliband had failed to protect his brother's human rights.

"I did write to Mr Miliband, but I didn't get any answer from him," he said. "I was truly begging him to do something about Binyam, that was my plea, but I didn't hear anything.

"I feel very sad. I feel betrayed. It's very cruel from a person who is elected by the people to protect humanity and freedom and the rule of law."

Dr Mohamed said his brother was a "quiet" and "helpful" person.

"He is very supportive and very considerate. He is not the kind of person who would want to hurt anybody," he said.

The decision to block the release of information about his brother's detention was "unacceptable," Dr Mohamed added.

FROM THE TODAY PROGRAMME


More from Today programme

The government has insisted that the UK had never "condoned the use of torture".

In a statement, the White House thanked the UK government "for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security information".

Mr Miliband insisted he had not "rolled over" in the face of American pressure and was in fact protecting Britain's national interests.

"If I authorise the sharing of information with another country I don't want them [the judges] to jeopardise our intelligence service by releasing that information against our will," he told the BBC's Newsnight.

'Cover up'

Shadow security minister Dame Pauline Neville Jones, a former chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, said Mr Miliband was following the "established position" in not releasing US-owned information without the American government's consent.

But she said she hoped both governments could look at the issue again and that the US government would decide it was right to release details in the public interest - while separating them from "sensitive" intelligence information.

"When there's a suggestion of wrongdoing we do have to try and find a way through," she told the BBC.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said the government should be able to protect some sensitive information but said it was "unacceptable" to conceal "the circumstances around the alleged torture of this individual".

"I think it smacks of a cover-up unless the government comes clean," he added.

Binyam Mohamed's US military lawyer said the US authorities were withholding information about her client's alleged torture in order to save face.

Ltd Colonel Yvonne Bradley - who visited Binyam Mohammed at Guantanamo bay last week - said: "What the US is doing right now is not so much about national security or intelligence - it's about being embarrassed.

BBC NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Detainee brother feels 'betrayed'



...
 
Profile: Binyam Mohamed

Profile: Binyam Mohamed

Binyam Mohamed has an unenviable distinction: the last recognised British resident to be held in the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

To the American authorities, he is a would-be bomber who fought alongside the Taleban in Afghanistan.

But Mr Mohamed insists the only evidence against him has been obtained by torture, which he says he suffered with connivance.

Now a High Court ruling has suggested that the US threatened to withdraw intelligence help from the UK if details of his treatment were released.

Binyam Mohamed al Habashi was born in Ethiopia on 24 July 1978.

In 1994 he arrived in the UK and sought asylum on the basis of his family's opposition to the Ethiopian government.

Drug habit

His application was rejected, but in 2000 he was given exceptional leave to remain in the UK for four years.

Living in west London, Mr Mohamed worked as a cleaner and studied electrical and electronics engineering.

In 2001 - the year he converted to Islam - Mr Mohamed travelled to Pakistan, and then Afghanistan. What he was doing there is the crux of his legal battle.

According to Mr Mohamed, he wanted to kick a drug habit and get away from familiar haunts in London.

He says that he also wanted to see whether Taleban-run Afghanistan was a good Islamic country - a path followed by other young Muslim men who were fascinated by events in that war-torn region.

Still there is no end in sight, no prospect of a fair trial

Binyam Mohamed

US authorities, however, say that while in Afghanistan, he fought on the front line against anti-Taleban Northern Alliance forces.

They claim he was cherry-picked by al-Qaeda because of his UK residency, and received firearms and explosives training alongside British shoe bomber Richard Reid.

Prosecutors claim he planned to travel to the US, rent several flats in an apartment block and then blow it up with a timing device.

Mr Mohamed was arrested by Pakistani immigration officials at Karachi airport in April 2002 when intending to return to the UK. He claims he was then tortured in Pakistan.

He also claims a British agent who introduced himself as "John" visited him in Pakistan and that the torture stopped soon afterwards.

Mr Mohamed was taken to Morocco where he says he was tortured for 18 months. He claimed he was beaten and scalded and had his penis slashed with a scalpel.

Then, he claims he was transferred to an alleged CIA-run site in Kabul, Afghanistan before being sent to Guantanamo. He has been held there since September 2004.


Camp Delta detention centre on Guantanamo Bay

In Afghanistan he alleges he was held in a black hole at the "Prison of Darkness" where he was deprived of sleep, blasted with sound, starved and then beaten and hung up.

In August 2007, Britain asked the US to return Mr Mohamed and others to the UK. The others were returned, Mr Mohamed was not.

Then, when it became clear the US was going to re-charge Mr Mohamed, his lawyers sought the release of evidence relating to the case.

When the government declined, his lawyers started High Court proceedings on 6 May 2008 culminating in the ruling that alleges he was tortured.

On 28 May 2008, Mr Mohamed was charged with conspiring with members of al-Qaeda to murder and commit terrorism - accusations he denies.

It is not yet clear if US military prosecutors will seek the death penalty, although the offences carry the sentence.

Mr Mohamed was among the Guantanamo detainees who went on hunger strike to protest against the conditions and their lack of access to a judicial review.

In a May 2008 letter to 10 Downing Street, he told how he felt "betrayed" by Britain and said he was contemplating suicide.

He wrote: "I have been held without trial by the US for six years, one month and 12 days.

"That is 2,234 days (very long days and often longer nights). Of this, about 550 days were in a torture chamber in Morocco and about 150 in the 'Dark Prison' in Kabul.

"Still there is no end in sight, no prospect of a fair trial."

BBC NEWS | UK | Profile: Binyam Mohamed



*shake my head sadly* to both articles :(


 
Guantanamo inmate 'fit to travel'

Guantanamo inmate 'fit to travel'

A UK resident held at the US's Guantanamo Bay detention camp is fit enough to travel to the UK, the Foreign Office has said.

British officials, including a doctor, visited Binyam Mohamed in Cuba. The UK had expressed concerns over his health after reports he was on hunger strike.

His legal team hope he will be cleared for release by President Barack Obama and return to Britain within days.

Mr Mohamed has been held since 2002, but US charges were dropped last year.

'No medical concerns'

Mr Mohamed, who lived in west London, was arrested in Pakistan in 2002. The 30-year-old says he was tortured before arriving in Cuba, but the US denies the claims.

Hopefully we can bring him back to some good old-fashioned English food

Mr Mohamed's lawyer Clive Stafford Smith
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "A team of British officials, including a doctor, met with Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed yesterday. They also met with medical staff at the facility.

"There are no immediate medical concerns that would prevent him from travelling to the UK, should the United States government agree to the UK's request for release and return. We hope this brings Mr Mohamed's release and return to the UK one step closer."

Mr Mohamed's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, said his client ended his hunger strike on Wednesday.

He said the 6ft 1in (1.9m) detainee's weight had dropped to 125lb (8st 9lb; 57kg) since he stopped eating on 5 January and they were worried he would not be deemed fit to travel.

"That means he has the same body mass index as people who are very close to starvation," he said.

"My understanding is that now he's having one meal of solid food a day and some nutritional supplements.

"Hopefully we can bring him back to some good old-fashioned English food."

Obama review

Ethiopian national Mr Mohamed is the last recognised British resident held at Guantanamo Bay.

He says he was secretly flown to Morocco and tortured before being moved to Afghanistan and finally, in 2004, to the US naval base in Cuba, where he remains, although charges against him were dropped last year.


The foreign secretary was caught up in a row over Mr Mohamed's detention

After becoming president, Mr Obama issued an executive order establishing a review of all inmates held at Guantanamo.

Lawyers acting for Mr Mohamed have campaigned for alleged evidence of his torture to be made public.

Earlier this month, judges refused to order the disclosure of a summary of US reports on his detention, citing a threat to US intelligence-sharing with Britain.

Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones ruled that some parts of papers referring to Mr Mohamed should remain secret, citing a threat from the US to halt the sharing of information on terrorism.

They said Foreign Secretary David Miliband believed there was a "real risk" such a move by the US would increase the danger of terrorism in the UK, but Mr Miliband later insisted there had been "no threat" by US authorities.

Mr Mohamed's lawyers now argue that the courts should reconsider their decision on the reports' disclosure after being misled about a threat over intelligence-sharing.

BBC NEWS | UK | Guantanamo inmate 'fit to travel'
 
Guantanamo man arrives back in UK

Guantanamo man arrives back in UK

A British resident detained at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years has arrived back in the UK.

Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, 30, landed at RAF Northolt in London on Monday afternoon, accompanied by Metropolitan Police officers.

Mr Mohamed says he was tortured while in custody on suspicion of terrorism.

He said in a statement the worst moment of his captivity was when he realised his alleged torturers were receiving material from UK intelligence agents.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said his release was the first step towards the goal of closing down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

Mr Mohamed said in a statement: "I have to say, more in sadness than in anger, that many have been complicit in my own horrors over the past seven years.

"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."

'Torture chambers'

Mr Mohamed was accompanied by a doctor during his flight and said he was neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media on the moment of his arrival back to Britain.

"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. 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

"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.

"While I want to recover, and put it all as far in the past as I can, I also know I have an obligation to the people who still remain in those torture chambers.

"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."

Referring to his alleged period of torture in Morocco, Mr Mohamed said: "I have 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."

He went on: "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."

'Hard work'

Mr Miliband said he was pleased Mr Mohamed was returning.

"His release and return from Guantanamo Bay is the result of a number of years of very hard work by officials with him and with his team," he said.

"Obviously, the release of Binyam Mohamed is the first release from Guantanamo Bay since the election of President Obama.

"We very much welcome President Obama's commitment to close Guantanamo Bay and I see today's return of Binyam Mohamed as the first step towards that shared goal."
Mr Mohamed, a British resident, claims he was tortured

The UK attorney general is consulting the director of public prosecutions over whether to order a criminal investigation into the torture claims.

Mr Mohamed's sister Zuhra said: "I am so glad and so happy, more than words can express.

"I am so thankful for everything that was done for Binyam to make this day come true."

The Met Police said Mr Mohamed had been detained at RAF Northolt under border regulations, but had not been arrested.

Clive Stafford Smith, director of legal charity Reprieve which represented Mr Mohamed, said: "He is a victim who has suffered more than any human being should ever suffer.

"He just wants to go somewhere very quiet and try to recover. Every moment that he is held compounds the abuse he has endured."

Public safety

The BBC's home affairs correspondent Andy Tighe said it was unlikely Mr Mohamed would be arrested and taken to a high security prison, but he now would be put under some form of police surveillance.

Gordon Brown refused to discuss the details of any restrictions on Mr Mohamed, but said: "We will do everything in our power to protect the security of people in our country and the home secretary will take whatever action is necessary."

The US had accused Mr Mohamed of involvement in a plot to detonate a "dirty bomb" in America, but the charges were dropped in October.

The US Department of Justice said in a statement on Monday that his release was "consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice". FROM THE BBC WORLD SERVICE

"The friendship and assistance of the international community is vitally important as we work to close Guantanamo, and we greatly appreciate the efforts of the British government to work with us on the transfer of Binyam Mohamed," Attorney General Eric Holder said.

Mr Mohamed says he was tortured into falsely confessing to terrorism and accuses British MI5 officers of complicity in his abuse.

He alleges he was secretly flown from Pakistan to Morocco and tortured before being moved to Afghanistan and on to Guantanamo Bay.

Mr Mohamed had lived in the UK from the age of 15, before being arrested in Pakistan in 2002.

Earlier this year he went on a month-long hunger strike at Guantanamo and his legal team said he was "close to starvation".

But last weekend he was declared well enough to travel back to the UK by a team of British officials who had visited him.

His lawyers insist he poses no risk to the UK.

The Home Office said Mr Mohamed will be interviewed about his resident status and will have to apply for leave to enter. While a decision is pending, he will be granted temporary admission.

One other UK resident, Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, remains in Guantanamo Bay after being detained in Afghanistan in 2001. Originally from Saudi Arabia, he had been living in London with his wife and children - who are all British citizens - since 1996.

Two other Guantanamo inmates claim to have been living in the UK prior to their detention, but those claims are disputed.

BBC NEWS | UK | Guantanamo man arrives back in UK
 
Meanwhile, the average American sits back and goes "Yeah! Kill those terrorists! Yeah!" while watching the Oscars and eating their HFCS-infested food.

The true sheeple are those who support things that they know are wrong, such as torture.

Oh, if the government captured them, why, they must be terrorists!

Ignorant sheeple. If the average American was tortured, they'd scream and cry for their mother while a guard slashes their penis or forces them to lie in a pile nude with other men.

Most Americans are insulated from this reality and that is why they are so quick to support torture.

But, keep in mind that it could happen to us anytime. If you think the government will stop at detaining Muslims, think twice.
 
Updated:

US offered to free terror suspect Binyam Mohamed if he made false statements

US military authorities tried to persuade Binyam Mohamed, the UK resident held in Guantánamo Bay, to sign a statement saying he had never been tortured in return for his release, it emerged yesterday.

He would also have had to plead guilty to terrorist offences that he did not commit, drop his demand to see documentary evidence showing he was telling the truth, and promise not to speak to the media or sue the US or UK for any wrongdoing.

The terms of the attempted plea bargain were kept secret. They have been disclosed by Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones in the wake of Mohamed's recent release. He returned to Britain last month.

The high court papers show that the US government made it clear it would seek a minimum 30-year jail sentence if Mohamed was found guilty by a military court. If he was acquitted, he was still to be detained as an "enemy combatant".

The papers reveal that a draft plea agreement was sent "with the invitation that BM [Mohamed] sign it", in October 2008, the very time the US authority responsible for drawing up indictments for military trials dismissed the charges against him. Abandoned charges included claims that Mohamed planned to build a "dirty bomb".

As part of the plea bargain, Mohamed would have had to agree "not to participate in or support in any manner any litigation or challenge, in any forum, against the United States or any other nation or any official of any nation".

If he applied for the release of the documents that his defence lawyers are still demanding, then the plea offer would be cancelled, according to the proposed deal. The US officially denies that Mohamed was tortured and refuses to disclose where he was for two "missing years" - now known to be 2002 to 2004, when he was being held in Morocco.

David Miliband, the foreign secretary, is still insisting that documents the high court says contain "powerful evidence" about Mohamed's treatment should remain secret. The two high court judges expressed surprise last month that "a democracy governed by the rule of law", such as the US, would expect a court in another democracy to "suppress" evidence relating to torture allegations, "politically embarrassing though it might be".

Clare Algar, executive director of Reprieve, the legal charity that represents Mohamed and more than 30 other Guantánamo detainees, said: "Offering a man who is protesting his innocence freedom on the condition that he pleads guilty to something and serves a 10-day sentence is face-saving on a horrific scale."

US offered to free terror suspect Binyam Mohamed if he made false statements | World news | The Guardian
 
Updated

UK judges reopen Guantanamo case

The High Court has taken the unusual step of reopening a controversial judgement in the case of former Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed.

It had agreed to a government request not to publish details of admissions by US officials over the way the UK resident was detained and treated.

Judges said the US might "re-evaluate its intelligence-sharing relationship", which could affect national security.

The government said the US remained opposed to any further disclosures.

They reopening of the case stemmed from submissions by Mr Mohamed's lawyers and the media.

The two judges, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, say they will set out their reasons for reopening their judgement "in due course".

But lawyers for Foreign Secretary David Miliband will still be able to argue that the information should not be made public.

US position 'opaque'

Ethiopian-born Mr Mohamed, 30, claims he was subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment with the consent of UK authorities after being detained in Pakistan in 2002. The US denies the claims.

During a High Court hearing in 2008, lawyers for the foreign secretary said the US government remained opposed to publication of certain paragraphs outlining Mr Mohamed's treatment, even under President Barack Obama's new administration.

Mr Mohamed's lawyer, Dinah Rose QC, told the two judges it had since become clear from statements made by Mr Miliband and others that this was not correct and the true position of the new US administration in fact remained "opaque".


The foreign secretary's refusal to take this simple step is baffling and does nothing to dispel allegations of Britain's complicity in torture

William Hague
Shadow foreign secretary
The appeal to reopen the judgement was launched by a number of media organisations including the BBC, Guardian News and Media, Times Newspapers and the New York Times.

Clive Stafford Smith, director of human rights organisation Reprieve, said: "It is long past time that this evidence was made public.

"How can it be that two governments that purport to uphold the rule of law be working together to cover up crimes committed against Binyam Mohamed?"

Responding to the High Court decision to reopen the judgement, the Foreign Office said the foreign secretary had raised this case with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"Secretary Clinton made it clear that the position of the US administration on the disclosure of US intelligence material had not changed," said the FO.

"In the light of President Obama's recent decision to release highly classified Department of Justice papers, we have checked again with the US whether this indicates a change in the US position on the release of a summary of US intelligence by the UK Courts.

"The US made their position clear that disclosure 'could likely result in serious damage to UK and US national security'."

'Cover-up'

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague argued that the foreign secretary needed to "bring this saga to an end".

"As we have said all along, he should take the simple step of asking the new Obama administration for the right to release the controversial paragraphs," he said.

"The foreign secretary's refusal to take this simple step is baffling and does nothing to dispel allegations of Britain's complicity in torture or the government's attempt to cover it up."

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Edward Davey said President Obama's openness about America's use of torture during the Bush administration had exposed the government's position.

"This return to court is humiliating for David Miliband. If the judges were to rule for full disclosure, it would leave serious question marks over his position as well as being a great day for British justice," he added.

Mr Mohamed was the last British resident to leave Guantanamo Bay, returning to the UK in February.

BBC NEWS | UK | UK judges reopen Guantanamo case
 
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