BRITAIN: A British court ruled yesterday that the government must disclose evidence to a defendant being held at Guantánamo Bay.
The ruling came in a decision that carried with it implicit criticism of US detention policies.
In its ruling, the High Court said the foreign office must provide Binyam Mohamed, a British resident detained in Pakistan in 2002 and now held at Guantánamo, with information relating to his time in detention.
His lawyers say the material supports his claim to have been "extraordinarily rendered", tortured and forced into a confession on terrorism charges.
Lord Justice Thomas and Lord Justice Lloyd Jones said the foreign office had a duty to "disclose in confidence" the data Mr Mohamed was seeking in order for his lawyers to mount a proper defence of the charges against him.
Mr Mohamed's legal team was buoyant after the ruling, calling it a "momentous decision" that showed the British system's determination to stand up for human rights while condemning procedures at Guantánamo.
"Today's judgment reflects the abhorrence of decent society at the methods employed by the United States' government in the supposed 'war on terror'," said Richard Stein, a lawyer with the solicitors who brought the case.
The foreign office said it was considering the implications of the rulings "very carefully" and said it had not divulged the information because of national security.
"We have never contested that Mr Mohamed's defence lawyers should have access to information which would assist him in his defence in any trial at Guantanámo Bay," the statement said.
Lawyers for Mr Mohamed, an Ethiopian national, say the information relates to interrogations he was subjected to by Britain's secret services while being held in Pakistan in 2002.
Following those interrogations, lawyers say he was flown by the CIA to Morocco in July 2002, where he was tortured, including having his penis cut with a razor. He was held there for 18 months, they say, and quizzed about information they argue could only have come from British questioning.
In January 2004 Mr Mohamed was flown to Kabul and then transferred to Bagram air base.
He is being tried before a US military commission on terrorism charges and potentially faces the death penalty if found guilty.
In its ruling, the High Court levelled implicit criticism at the US government's judicial procedures.
"It is a basic . . . value in any democracy that the location of those in custody is made known to the detainee's family and those representing him," the court said.
"To deny him this . . . would be to deny him the opportunity of timely justice . . . a principle dating back to at least the time of the Magna Carta and which is so basic a part of our common law and of democratic values."