Binyam blames UK for mistreatment

By Steve Swann BBC News

Mr Mohamed, a British resident, claims he was tortured in US custody

A UK resident freed from Guantanamo Bay says he would not have faced torture or extraordinary rendition but for alleged British involvement in his case.

In his first broadcast interview, Binyam Mohamed, 30, told the BBC that MI5 helped US agents interrogate him.

The former terror suspect said the six years and 10 months he spent in detention had left him feeling "dead".

The UK government has said it neither practises nor condones torture, but any claims would be investigated.

Mr Mohamed now wants to see former US President George Bush put on trial and, if there is evidence, Tony Blair.

The US, which has dropped all charges against him, says he has a history of making unsubstantiated claims.

'Dirty bomb'

Speaking just over a fortnight after his release, Mr Mohamed claims his mistreatment began soon after he was arrested in Pakistan in early 2002.

He told the BBC he was questioned by a middle-aged man with a ponytail claiming to be "Jim from the FBI".

Jim reportedly said he was a special agent sent from Washington to ask questions on behalf of the White House.

He asked about Mr Mohamed's alleged role in a plot to detonate a dirty bomb in the US, which Mr Mohamed said was a "fantasy".

The former detainee told the BBC he had never been involved in any plots and had not attended terrorist training camps before 9/11.

Asked if he had been an al-Qaeda operative, he replied: "I don't even know what that means because how am I supposed to be an al-Qaeda operative?

"How do you become an Al Qaeda operative?"

In the dark prison I was literally dead. I didn't exist Binyam Mohamed

During his detention in Pakistan, Mr Mohamed says he was interviewed for three hours by an MI5 officer calling himself John whose role, Mr Mohamed claims, was to support the American interrogators.

"If it wasn't for the British involvement right at the beginning of the interrogations in Pakistan, and suggestions that were made by MI5 to the Americans of how to get me to respond, I don't think I would have gone to Morocco," he said.

"It was that initial help that MI5 gave to America that led me through the seven years of what I went through."

The MI5 agent who questioned him has previously denied at the British High Court any suggestion that he threatened or put any pressure on Mr Mohamed.

'Dark prison'

In July 2002, Binyam Mohamed says he was flown to a secret site in Morocco where he claims he was tortured by local officers asking him questions supplied by British intelligence operatives and showing him hundreds of photographs of Muslim men living in the UK.

"The interrogator who was showing me the file would say, 'This is the British file and this is the American file.'

Mr Mohamed, who spoke to the media against the advice of his psychiatrist because he wants people to know what happened to him, did not want to talk about what was allegedly done to him in Morocco.

But his lawyers have previously placed on record claims that his genitals were slashed with a razor.

I may get better or I may go crazy. Only time will tell Binyam Mohamed

In January 2004, Mr Mohamed says he was taken to a place he calls the 'dark prison' in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where he says he almost lost his mind.

He claims he was put in a dark cell with just a blanket on the floor.

Speakers attached to the walls pumped out music by the American rapper Eminem 24 hours a day for a month.

"In the dark prison I was literally dead. I didn't exist. I wasn't there. There was no day, there was no night."

Fingerprints

Following his experiences in Kabul, Mr Mohamed signed a confession which he says he agreed to only because he was told he would be flown back to the dark prison if he didn't co-operate.

Shortly after this he was sent to Guantanamo Bay where he says guards attacked him for refusing to give his fingerprints.

He claims abuses at the camp have increased since President Obama announced his intention to close it within a year.

In the UK, the Attorney General is continuing a review into whether to ask police to investigate allegations of British collusion in Mr Mohamed's mistreatment.

On Thursday, a Home office spokesperson said: "The government unreservedly condemns the use of torture as a matter of fundamental principle and works hard with its international partners to eradicate this abhorrent practice worldwide.

"The security and intelligence agencies do not participate in, solicit, encourage or condone the use of torture or inhumane or degrading treatment."