Lawyer: Police investigating torture claims seek evidence from Guantanamo Bay detainee

UK police seek evidence from Guantanamo detainee

LONDON — British police investigating allegations that the country’s spies colluded in torture are seeking evidence from a Guantanamo Bay detainee who alleges he had his head beaten against a wall while a U.K. intelligence officer looked on, lawyers told a court Friday.

Shaker Aamer, 42, a Saudi-born man who lived in Britain before his detention, is among the 196 remaining detainees — and the last with ties to the U.K. — at the U.S. prison camp in Cuba. He claims he was the victim of violence while held in Afghanistan in 2002.

Police have applied to London’s High Court for access to secret documents on Aamer sent by Britain to the U.S. panel assessing the fate of detainees still held at Guantanamo. The U.S. has previously refused to return Aamer to Britain citing security concerns.

Aamer’s attorney Richard Hermer told a hearing that police also have visited the detainee’s legal team to seek details on his claim that an official from Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 was present during his alleged abuse.

Britain’s government has previously rejected Aamer’s allegations, and no criminal investigation is taking place in connection with his case.

However, police are investigating two cases of alleged misconduct by MI5 and MI6 — the country’s foreign intelligence agency — in relation to suspects held overseas.

Speaking following the High Court hearing, another lawyer for Aamer, Gareth Peirce, said his evidence is crucial to those police inquiries.

“It is potentially one of the most important criminal investigations there has been in this country,” Peirce said. “Mr. Aamer is a victim and key witness in that investigation — and yet where is he? He is in Guantanamo where the police can’t go to interview him. A missing witness.”

Police declined to comment on whether officers would seek to interview Aamer in person, or elaborate on their interest in his allegations.

An officer from MI5 is being investigated over claims he may have colluded in the mistreatment of Binyam Mohamed, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, in Pakistan in 2002. In September, MI6 referred concerns over the conduct of one of the agency’s officers to the government’s chief legal adviser, who later asked police to investigate.

Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement that Aamer’s legal team had made “unsubstantiated allegations” about U.K. involvement in his alleged abuse.

“We do not accept allegations of U.K. involvement or complicity in his mistreatment,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. “We firmly reject any suggestion that we torture or mistreat people or ask others to do so on our behalf.”

Peirce also claimed that Britain had not done enough to pressure the U.S. to release Aamer. A total of 13 British citizens, or British residents, have been released from Guantanamo since 2004, including Mohamed — who returned last February.

The Foreign Office said it has repeatedly demanded Aamer be released, and is continuing to press authorities in Washington. “This is a decision for the United States, and there is no guarantee that we will be successful,” the ministry said.

Associated Press Writer Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report