Guantanamo inmate files lawsuit seeking papers from UK

LONDON - Lawyers for a Guantanamo Bay detainee said Wednesday they have filed a lawsuit seeking to force the British government to hand over documents that they claim prove the prisoner was tortured before being sent to the U.S. prison in Cuba.

Ethiopian national Binyam Mohamed, 30, claims British intelligence agencies hold evidence that show he was tortured while being held in Morocco for two years.

In papers filed with Britain's High Court, Mohamed's lawyers allege his genitals were slashed with a scalpel and he was repeatedly beaten while being held in the North African country in 2002-04.

Lawyer Clive Stafford Smith said the case against Mohamed rests on evidence obtained in Morocco. He said proof that Mohamed was tortured would help show his innocence and could lead the U.S. to halt plans to put him on trial before a military commission.

Mohamed was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and transferred to Morocco. He was later taken to a CIA-run prison in Afghanistan and then to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay.

Last year, the U.S. declined a request from the British government to release Mohamed along with three other men who had previously been British residents.

Britain's domestic intelligence service, MI5, which has carried out hundreds of interviews with British nationals or residents held overseas, said it had no knowledge Mohamed was tortured in Morocco.

A July report by Parliament's intelligence oversight committee said an MI5 officer interviewed Mohamed for three hours in Pakistan in 2002. MI5 denied Mohamed told the officer that he had been warned he was being transferred to Morocco to be tortured.

Eight other former Guantanamo detainees have filed lawsuits against the British government and security services, accusing them of complicity in their detentions and seeking millions of dollars in damages.

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