Miliband forced to reveal secret torture evidence in Binyam Mohamed case. Index on Censorship party to key test of open justice
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China has warned the Swiss government that its decision to grant asylum to two Chinese Uighurs currently detained in Guantanamo Bay will harm relations. Switzerland’s justice minister said the decision to take the brothers was guided by humanitarian principles and should not be interpreted as giving preference to one country over another. The Obama administration has sought to resettle Uighurs in third countries for fear they may be persecuted if sent back to China.
The High Court has again rejected claims made by the Foreign Office in an attempt to block the release of evidence relating to the detention of Binyam Mohamed.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband argues that the release of materials detailing Mohamed’s treatment at the hands of the CIA would seriously harm Britain’s intelligence-sharing relationship with the US.
According to the Guardian:
The judges revealed that seven paragraphs in a key document Miliband insists must remain secret “relate to admissions of what officials of the US did to BM during his detention in Pakistan”. They repeated their earlier finding that “what is contained in those seven redacted paragraphs gives rise to an arguable case of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”.
The court has heard that a British security service officer interrogated Mohamed in Pakistan and officials passed information about him to the CIA. It was clear, the judges said, that the relationship of the UK to the US in connection with Mohamed “was far beyond that of a bystander or witness to the alleged wrongdoing”.
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A revised High Court judgment on the case of Binyam Mohamed suggests that British intelligence services were aware of the location and treatment of the Ethiopian-born former Guantanamo inmate during his detention in Morroco. Mohamed claims to have been tortured while imprisoned there.
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