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Brown urged to intervene in case of Guantanamo Brit

30/05/2008

The last British resident in Guantanamo Bay has sent Gordon Brown a letter pleading for him to intervene before he appears at a military tribunal at which he can be given the death penalty.

Binyam Mohamed, the last inmate at the controversial prison with an automatic right to British residency, is set to be charged with terrorism-related offences in the next few days before appearing in what one law lord called a 'kangaroo court' on the Cuban island.

In a letter to the prime minister, Mr Mohamed, 29, from west London, said: "Because I am a Londoner, your government states publicly that you support my right to return home there as soon as possible. I am grateful for that. I always viewed Britain as the country that stood up for human rights more than any other. That was why I came to Britain as a refugee.

"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 of a fair trial."

British officials made requests for the country's Guantanamo inmates to be returned to the UK last year. Three were flown home, while one opted to transfer to Saudi Arabia. But the Americans have refused to countenance the release of Mr Mohamed.

"Before the intervention of your government to help me, I was more resigned to my fate," he continues.

"When your government intervened, I had hope. But it has been a cruel hope. Nine months later, I am still here, no closer to home, still in this terrible prison.

"When I learned that my Moroccan torturers were using information supplied by British intelligence, I felt deeply betrayed. When I learned that your government's lawyers [The Treasury Solicitors] had told my lawyers they had no duty to help prove my innocence, or even that I had been tortured, I felt betrayed again."

Mr Mohamed's also offers an account of the torture he experienced in Morocco.

"They cut all over my body, including my private parts, saying it was better just to cut it off as I would only breed terrorists. This went on for weeks every day. I felt like I was being stung by a million bees at once. The floor was full of blood."

Both Tony Blair and Mr Brown have called on the Americans to close the camp but Mr Mohamed's lawyers accuse British officials of passing on information to the Moroccan authorities who later used it while torturing him.