Legal Commentary

Binyam Mohamed Leaves Gitmo Today

By Jeralyn

Binyam Mohamed will be flown to Great Britain today, his six year ordeal at Guantanamo and prisons in Morocco, Pakistan and Afghanistan finally over.

Mohamed, who left Ethiopia for Britain in 1994 and studied engineering in London, was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and transferred to Guantanamo in 2004. He was accused by the U.S. of being an unlawful enemy combatant who conspired to commit acts of terrorism. U.S. prosecutors dropped the charges in October.

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Mohamed was unshackled and changed out of an orange jumpsuit before boarding a plane that was scheduled to refuel in Bermuda before reaching the U.K., Sky News reported. A doctor, a detective from London’s Metropolitan Police force and two Foreign Office officials are with him.

On his claims of torture,

Mohamed, 30, said he was arrested in Pakistan on a visa violation and handed to U.S. officials. He claimed he was held in Pakistan for four months before being secretly sent by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to Morocco, where he was tortured for 18 months, with U.K. officials supplying the questions used by the Moroccan torturers. In 2004, he alleged, he was sent to Afghanistan, where his torture continued. He was then moved to Guantanamo Bay.

British authorities say he "“given every opportunity to integrate himself back into society.”

Our prior coverage of his case is here.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 23, 2009 (boomark / email).