Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
June 21, 2008
Pg. 10
By Raymond Bonner
LONDON — The government of Britain has turned over classified material to American military prosecutors at Guantánamo Bay about a British prisoner’s allegations that he was interrogated and tortured in Morocco after secretly being taken there by the C.I.A., according to the British Foreign Office.
The prisoner, Binyam Mohamed, was charged by American military prosecutors last month with conspiracy and material support for terrorism, and the Foreign Office said in a letter to his lawyer that the evidence it gave to the Pentagon could be “exculpatory and relevant.”
In the letter, which has not been made public, the Foreign Office acknowledged that it had previously denied — to the defendant’s lawyers and to a parliamentary committee — having had any information pertaining to Mr. Mohamed.
The Foreign Office told the lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, that it could not reveal the contents of the classified material, but that the American prosecutors had an obligation to turn it over to the defense before any trial.
The Bush administration and the British government under Prime Minister Gordon Brown have been at loggerheads over Mr. Mohamed’s case for nearly a year. Last August, Britain sought Mr. Mohamed’s release and return to Britain, but the Bush administration refused.
“The government’s request for Mr. Mohamed’s release and return stands, and we will continue our close engagement with the U.S. over his case,” the Foreign Office wrote on June 6, in the letter to Mr. Stafford Smith. It added, “As you know, we have also written to the U.S. authorities asking them to investigate Mr. Mohamed’s allegations of mistreatment.”
The State Department informed the British Embassy earlier this year that there would not be an investigation, according to other British documents.
Mr. Mohamed has said that while in Morocco, the torture included being cut on his chest and genitals with a razor. Mr. Stafford Smith has said that photographs were taken of Mr. Mohamed’s injuries by American military personnel.
On Wednesday, Representative Bill Delahunt, Democrat of Massachusetts, wrote to the Pentagon requesting the photographs.
In the charges filed against Mr. Mohamed, prosecutors said that he underwent training at several camps run by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001, in preparation for terrorist attacks in the United States, including the detonation of a so-called dirty bomb.
Mr. Mohamed admitted, during his hearing at Guantánamo before a military panel called the Combatant Status Review Tribunal, that he had received paramilitary training in Afghanistan, which included instructions on how to falsify documents and encode telephone numbers.
He said that the training had been in preparation for going to Chechnya, and he denied any intention to carry out attacks against the United States.
June 21, 2008
Pg. 10
By Raymond Bonner
LONDON — The government of Britain has turned over classified material to American military prosecutors at Guantánamo Bay about a British prisoner’s allegations that he was interrogated and tortured in Morocco after secretly being taken there by the C.I.A., according to the British Foreign Office.
The prisoner, Binyam Mohamed, was charged by American military prosecutors last month with conspiracy and material support for terrorism, and the Foreign Office said in a letter to his lawyer that the evidence it gave to the Pentagon could be “exculpatory and relevant.”
In the letter, which has not been made public, the Foreign Office acknowledged that it had previously denied — to the defendant’s lawyers and to a parliamentary committee — having had any information pertaining to Mr. Mohamed.
The Foreign Office told the lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, that it could not reveal the contents of the classified material, but that the American prosecutors had an obligation to turn it over to the defense before any trial.
The Bush administration and the British government under Prime Minister Gordon Brown have been at loggerheads over Mr. Mohamed’s case for nearly a year. Last August, Britain sought Mr. Mohamed’s release and return to Britain, but the Bush administration refused.
“The government’s request for Mr. Mohamed’s release and return stands, and we will continue our close engagement with the U.S. over his case,” the Foreign Office wrote on June 6, in the letter to Mr. Stafford Smith. It added, “As you know, we have also written to the U.S. authorities asking them to investigate Mr. Mohamed’s allegations of mistreatment.”
The State Department informed the British Embassy earlier this year that there would not be an investigation, according to other British documents.
Mr. Mohamed has said that while in Morocco, the torture included being cut on his chest and genitals with a razor. Mr. Stafford Smith has said that photographs were taken of Mr. Mohamed’s injuries by American military personnel.
On Wednesday, Representative Bill Delahunt, Democrat of Massachusetts, wrote to the Pentagon requesting the photographs.
In the charges filed against Mr. Mohamed, prosecutors said that he underwent training at several camps run by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001, in preparation for terrorist attacks in the United States, including the detonation of a so-called dirty bomb.
Mr. Mohamed admitted, during his hearing at Guantánamo before a military panel called the Combatant Status Review Tribunal, that he had received paramilitary training in Afghanistan, which included instructions on how to falsify documents and encode telephone numbers.
He said that the training had been in preparation for going to Chechnya, and he denied any intention to carry out attacks against the United States.