Judgment is to be handed down by the High Court on Thursday 21 August in a case being brought by Leigh Day & Co on behalf of British resident, Binyam Mohamed, currently incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay.

A written judgment will be handed down by Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd-Jones at 10.00 am in Court 71 at the Royal Courts of Justice.

The legal case seeks to compel the British Government to assist Mr Mohamed by providing evidence of his rendition and torture in order to help him defend charges he faces at Guantanamo Bay and which are based upon confessions extracted by torture and ill-treatment.

Judgment follows a lengthy hearing in the High Court which took place between 28 July and 1 August 2008. 

A significant part of the hearing took place in closed session due to the national security sensitivity of much of the material before the Court. During the hearing a member of the security services was cross-examined by Mr Mohamed’s legal team.

The judgment will determine whether or not the UK Government is under a duty to provide Mr Mohamed with the evidence he seeks.

NOTES:

1.    Binyam Mohamed is an Ethiopian national who resided in the UK before being detained by the Pakistani authorities attempting to exit the country on a false passport in April 2002. He was held without access to lawyers or due legal process and ill-treated by both the American and Pakistani authorities whilst being held in Pakistan.  During this period he was visited and interrogated by British secret services.  In July 2002 he was rendered by the CIA to Morocco where he was tortured horrifically including having his penis lacerated with a razor.  He was held and tortured in Morocco for about 18 months and during his interrogations he was presented with information which could only have originated from the British authorities.

In January 2004 the Americans collected him and flew him to the notorious ‘Black Prison’ near Kabul where he was subjected to further ill-treatment and interrogation. Finally he was transferred to Baghram Air Base where a “clean team” set about formally interviewing him to obtain evidence which could be used in a prosecution. As Mr Mohamed himself has said, by that time he would have said anything to end his suffering.

The Americans have consistently denied that Mr Mohamed was extraordinarily rendered or tortured.
2.    Mr Mohamed was represented at the hearing by Dinah Rose QC, Philippe Sands QC and Ben Jaffey in the open parts of the hearing, and by “Special Advocates”, Tom de la Mare and Martin Goudie, in the closed sessions. 

3.    The Court has also prepared a closed judgment which will explain its reasoning by reference to the secret material considered at the   hearing.  This judgment will only be made available to the Government and Special Advocates representing Mr Mohamed. 

4.     Further hearings are likely to take place next week to deal with consequential matters arising from the Judgment.

For further information on this case, contact Richard Stein  or Jamie Beagent on 020 7650 1240