Guantanamo detainee in plea to PM - News in brief - Evening Standard
       

Guantanamo detainee in plea to PM

A British resident detained in Guantanamo Bay has written to Gordon Brown to plead for his release.

Binyam Mohamed denies any wrongdoing but fears he could face the death penalty if charged with terrorism offences, the Independent reported.

In his letter to No 10, he said he had considered suicide as a way of ending his ordeal, which began when he was detained in Pakistan in 2002.

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 for a fair trial."

Mr Mohamed is the last remaining Guantanamo detainee with a right to return to the UK.

Last year, three British residents held at Guantanamo Bay were flown home and a fourth was transferred to Saudi Arabia.

Born in Ethiopia in 1978, Mr Mohamed moved to Britain as an asylum seeker in 1994 when he was 16. Although his claim was never finally determined, he was given leave to remain in Britain, where he stayed for the next seven years.

But, after working as a caretaker in Kensington, west London, he developed a drug habit and, according to his legal team, travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2001 in a bid to resolve his personal issues. He was picked up in Pakistan in April 2002 as he attempted to leave to return to Britain.

Earlier this month, Mr Mohamed's legal team, led in the UK by prominent human rights lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, lodged papers at the High Court seeking judicial review proceedings to force the Foreign Office to release any information it has on his movements to the defence.

Downing Street refused to comment on the letter to Mr Brown.

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