Guantanamo hearing grants more time

Ethiopian national Binyam Mohamed, 30, who came to Britain in 1994 seeking asylum, says the material supports his case that the evidence against him was obtained through torture.

He was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and has been held at the detention facility in Cuba for the past four years. He is facing US military trial for terrorism offences and possibly the death penalty if found guilty.

Mohamed, who worked as a janitor in London, alleges the evidence against him is based on confessions extracted by torture and ill-treatment - claims denied by American authorities.

Lawyers for the Foreign Secretary argue that disclosure of the material would cause "significant damage to national security of the United Kingdom".

After the development in the case, the legal action charity, Reprieve, said in a statement: "Foreign Secretary David Miliband has been given one week in which to reconsider the Government's refusal to share evidence with Mr Mohamed that could help prove his innocence."

It added that the judges, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones, had decided that his claim of "public interest immunity" was "insufficiently supported in that he had not taken into sufficient account the torture suffered by Binyam".

Solicitor Richard Stein, of Leigh Day & Co, said: "Today's judgment discloses the shocking fact that the Foreign Secretary failed to give any proper weight in secret submissions he made to the court to the abhorrence of torture when he purported to determine that it was in the public interest not to disclose the evidence of ill-treatment to our client."

Mr Stein said: "The court has given the Foreign Secretary a further chance to reconsider his position before passing judgment. We await his response with interest."

It had been expected today that the judges would rule on whether or not they would make a disclosure order - but there will now be further proceedings before a decision is made.