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Court pressed on 'torture' case Tory pressure over 'torture' case
(about 7 hours later)
The High Court has been asked to reconsider a ruling that US intelligence material relating to claims of torture should remain secret. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has been urged to clarify details of the case of a Guantanamo detainee at the centre of a row over torture claims.
It documents the treatment of a Guantanamo Bay detainee, who says UK agencies were complicit in torture. The Tories say he needs to explain why he had not asked the new US government to allow intelligence material about the man's treatment to be published.
Judges said there had been a US "threat" about future intelligence sharing if it was published. The High Court wanted to publish it but said the US had threatened to withdraw intelligence cooperation if it did so.
But the man's lawyers argue David Miliband had said there was no threat and had effectively misled the court. Mr Miliband said he was not prepared to lobby the US government on the issue.
Solicitors acting for Binyam Mohamed, 30, - an Ethiopian national who had been in the UK since he was 15 - have now asked the High Court to reconsider its decision. The row revolves around Binyam Mohamed, 30, an Ethiopian national who had been in the UK since he was 15 but who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and later transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
Case 'undermined' 'No threat'
A spokesman for Leigh Day & Co said: "In an astonishing sequence of events following the judgement, the foreign secretary conceded that the new regime [in America] had not actually been approached and stated that in fact no threat had ever been made by the US." Accused of conspiring with Al-Qaeda leaders to plan a series of terrorist attacks, he says evidence against him is based on confessions extracted by torture and ill treatment - claims denied by the US.
That seemed "to undermine the whole basis of the court's reluctant decision to refuse to publish those details," they said. But a row erupted over intelligence material about his treatment, given by the US to the High Court, when two judges said they wanted to publish it but had been advised that the US had made a "threat ... that it would reconsider its intelligence sharing relationship".
They have lodged an application with the High Court requesting the judgement be reopened. They also said they had been informed by lawyers for the foreign secretary that the threat to withdraw co-operation remained, even under President Barack Obama's new administration
For the record, the United States authorities did not threaten to "break off" intelligence co-operation with the UK David Miliband I am not going to join a lobbying campaign against the American government on this decision David Miliband
The US material, disclosed to the High Court on the grounds it would not be published, was described by judges Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones as a US summary of Mr Mohamed's treatment "which made no disclosure of sensitive intelligence matters". But in a statement to MPs on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Mr Miliband said the word "threat" was the judges' and all the US authorities had done was "a simple affirmation of the facts of intelligence co-operation".
They had wanted to publish the material in the interest of safeguarding the rule of law and democratic accountability but said: "We had no reason ... to anticipate there would be made a threat of the gravity of the kind made by the United States government that it would reconsider its intelligence sharing relationship." Asked whether he would approach the new administration, as there were new policies and new CIA personnel, to ask them to reconsider allowing the material to be published he said: : "I am not going to join a lobbying campaign against the American government on this decision. It is a decision that they have to make."
They also said they had been informed by lawyers for the foreign secretary that the threat to withdraw co-operation remained, even under President Barack Obama's new administration. That statement has already prompted Mr Mohamed's lawyers to ask the High Court to look again at the case - saying they had been misled in their original ruling.
'Lobbying campaign' 'Security concerns'
However in a Commons statement on the case on Thursday Mr Miliband told MPs the word "threat" was used by the Court of Appeal - but he described what the Americans had said as "a simple affirmation of the facts of intelligence co-operation". And on Friday William Hague wrote to Mr Miliband asking a series of questions about his statement - he asked the foreign secretary to clarify whether the intelligence issue had been raised when he met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"For the record, the United States authorities did not threaten to "break off" intelligence co-operation with the UK," he said. He added: "On what basis was it possible for you to conclude that the new US administration was not prepared to change its position on this issue if the issue of intelligence sharing had not been raised with Washington?"
They had pointed out that disclosing the documents would be "likely to result in serious damage to US national security and could harm existing intelligence information-sharing...between our two governments". He also asked for clarification of the details of Mr Mohamed's return to the UK - which Mr Miliband said would be happening - and asked if "security concerns" previously expressed by the US government had been addressed.
Mr Mohamed, a British resident, claimed he was torturedMr Mohamed, a British resident, claimed he was tortured
Pressed to raise the issue again with the US, in the light of the new administration and changes to CIA personnel, he added: "I am not going to join a lobbying campaign against the American government on this decision. It is a decision that they have to make." And he asked whether, as Mr Mohamed's exceptional leave to remain in the UK had lapsed in May 2004, he would have to make a new application to stay were he to arrive back.
A spokesman for Leigh Day & Co, which represents Mr Mohamed, said the fact Mr Miliband had not approached the new US administration, and no specific threat had been made, seemed "to undermine the whole basis of the court's reluctant decision to refuse to publish those details".
They have lodged an application with the High Court requesting the judgement be reopened.
Clive Stafford Smith, of legal action charity Reprieve, said: "It seems unfair for the British government to pretend that Obama has ratified the retrograde policies of Bush without even asking him."Clive Stafford Smith, of legal action charity Reprieve, said: "It seems unfair for the British government to pretend that Obama has ratified the retrograde policies of Bush without even asking him."
Mr Mohamed was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and has been held by the US at Guantanamo Bay since September 2004. Mr Mohamed has been held by the US at Guantanamo Bay since September 2004 and is the last detainee with an automatic right to return to the UK.
The US authorities accused him of conspiring with Al-Qaeda leaders to plan a series of terrorist attacks but charges against him were dropped in October. The US authorities dropped charges against him in October - Mr Miliband said British efforts to get him returned to the UK are being pursued "at the highest level".
He says evidence against him is based on confessions extracted by torture and ill treatment - claims denied by the US. Mr Miliband said British efforts to get him returned to the UK are being pursued "at the highest level".
The attorney general has been asked to investigate claims Mr Mohamed was tortured and British agents were complicit in it.The attorney general has been asked to investigate claims Mr Mohamed was tortured and British agents were complicit in it.