Extraordinary rendition

Leigh Day & Co represented British resident Binyam Mohamed in civil proceedings against the British Security Services, Foreign Office and Home Office for alleged complicity in his extraordinary rendition and torture by the US. Mr Mohamed alleged that he was subjected to two years of brutal torture in secret prisons in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan at the behest of the US government and with the knowledge and co-operation of MI5. In 2009, the High Court found that, on the basis of the limited US documents it had seen, Mr Mohamed had been subjected to treatment in Pakistan that, had it been administered by UK officials, would have breached this country’s ban on torture, and that the UK’s involvement in this went ‘far beyond that of a bystander or witness to the alleged wrongdoing’.

Mr Mohamed's civil claim was successfully resolved following mediation with the Government in 2010. The litigation led to an announcement by the Prime Minister of an Inquiry to examine the UK's role in the improper treatment of detainees held in counter-terrorism operations overseas.