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Miliband faces cover-up claims over torture case
Paul Waugh05.02.09
Foreign secretary David Miliband faces claims of a cover-up over allegations that British security services colluded in the torture of a terror suspect
Mr Miliband came under fire as he prepared to make an emergency Commons statement on the refusal by the United States to release information on the treatment of British resident Binyam Mohamed.
The row erupted yesterday when two senior High Court judges said that Washington had threatened to review its intelligence-sharing relationship with Britain if the material was placed in the public domain.
The documents contain details of the treatment of Guantanamo Bay inmate Mohamed, who claims British security agencies were complicit in his torture.
The Tories called on the new Obama administration to release the information, but former US vice president Dick Cheney was unrepentant today about “enhanced interrogation techniques” used to protect American citizens.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg led the attack on Mr Miliband, declaring there was “no excuse” for withholding the information. “People reading the newspapers this morning will think it smacks of a cover-up,” he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. “Everybody understands that some intelligence needs to be kept secret. We are talking, however, about something much more specific: was he tortured or not?”
The High Court criticised the Americans over the way they had sought to prevent the information being released. In their ruling, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said that while the documents contained “evidence ... relevant to allegations of torture”, they did not reveal sensitive intelligence material despite being “politically embarrassing”.
They urged the Obama administration to reconsider the decision.
Last night Mr Miliband insisted there had been no threat of the US “breaking off” intelligence co-operation, but there would have been implications for future exchanges of information if the material had been made public.
“Intelligence co-operation depends on confidentiality. In this case, the United States made it clear, in documents that have been published, that there would inevitably be serious and lasting harm if that fundamental principle was breached,” he said.
Mr Cheney made a staunch defence of US conduct. He said protecting the country is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business”. “These are evil people. And we're not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek,” he added.
Last British resident at Guantanamo was CIA prisoner'
Binyam Mohamed al Habashi is the last British resident to be held by the US at Guantanamo Bay.
Born in Ethiopia on 24 July 1978, he arrived in the UK aged 16 and sought asylum on the grounds that his family feared persecution. In 2000 he was given exceptional leave to remain for four years.
Living in Queen's Park, Mohamed worked as a cleaner at an Islamic Centre in Kensington, and studied electrical engineering. In 2001, he converted to Islam and travelled to Pakistan, then Afghanistan. Mohamed said he wanted to kick drugs and see whether the Taliban ran a good Islamic country. US officials say he fought against Northern Alliance forces and was picked by al Qaeda for training alongside British shoe bomber Richard Reid. Prosecutors claim he planned to travel to the US and blow up an apartment block.
Mohamed was arrested at Karachi airport in April 2002 as he tried to board a London-bound flight with another man's passport. He claims he was tortured and then taken to Morocco where he says he was tortured for 18 months. Then, he claims, he was taken to a CIA-run site in Kabul before being sent to Guantanamo in September 2004. In August 2007, Britain asked the US to return Mohamed and others to the UK. The others were returned.
Reader views (7)
He is not British, he only has exceptional leave to remain here. Why is our money and politicians time being wasted on him? Let his own Ethiopian government sort his problems out, but wait even they don't want him.
- Tom, Watford (UK)
These terrorists / sympathizers in this camp are not British and should not be welcome in this country. Mr Gordan Brown and his muppet party need to be protecting our borders, not importing more scum into the country, we have plenty to deal with currently thanks to their failed mass immigration policy (primaraly from third world nations like where this bloke is from). Enough is Enough!
- Nick Nack Paddy Mac, Kilburn, London UK
Why should we protect this mans human rights we gave him asylum and what did he do go the Pakistan and fight British soldiers. Would he be a home grown terrorist we do not owe this man anything. He was is a convert to Islam and he is Ethopian so what was he doing in Pakistan. Remember Bill Clinton tried to bomb the south of Afghanistan after bin laden killed over 200 marines and attacked hotels in the middle east. remember 9/11 and all the other bombings. we should think of our country and can his family swear that he would not try to kill anyone in this country or organise a plot in which to kill hundreds I bet they can't.
- Jacqui Williams, peterborough cambs
The stance taken by Milliband shows that he is not a fit person to be the foreign secretary of the UK. It also shows that the man must have been tortured, or wheels would now be turning, to prove that he wasn't. I read somewhere that German and Italian POWs were tortured during WW2 in special camps or buildings in the south of the UK so, whats new.
A G Leeds
- Awesome Geronimo, Leeds UK
I do not understand why the British Government is involved with his case - he was not British. I do not think we can/should expect HMG to help everyone who has lived here. Also, here is someone who was caught traveling under a false passport, claimed he went to Pakistan and Afghanistano kick drugs - which amongst the worlds largest drug producers! i suspect that the balance of probabilty is that he did fight with the Taliban/ Al Quaeda
- Jeremy E, London
So we continue to be the poodle of the US, doing as their bidding whether right or wrong; what with the UK's subservience to Brussels it is blindingly obvious that the UK is no longer an independent state, and cannot take a moral stance whether it likes to or not=pathetic.
- Jon Kent, Hertford. UK
Whilst I can understand the consternation about American tactics in regards to the people inprisoned in Guantanamo I cannot get over how we always seem to bend over backwards for the rights of foriegn born British residents.
This man came to our country seeking asylum next thing we know he fighting for the taliban and then is arrested using a forged passport. This is not the kind of person we need or want in this country let alone defend on the world stage. I resent that we are put in this position by such a person.
- Gary, London
