Briton to sue intelligence services over torture at Guantanamo

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http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/September/theworld_September302.xml§ion=theworld

12 September 2007

LONDON - A Briton who claims he was tortured while he was held at the US naval detention camp at Guantanamo Bay is set to sue Britain’s intelligence services over the tactics they used to question him, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

Citing court documents it had seen, the newspaper said that Tarek Dergoul was seeking a High Court ruling to ensure that MI5 and MI6, the domestic and foreign intelligence services respectively, do not benefit from torture of prisoners held outside Britain.

Dergoul, 29, alleges that after he was picked up by US forces in Afghanistan in 2001, he was held in Afghanistan and Guantanamo, during which time he was beaten, sexually humiliated, subjected to extremes of cold, and his religion was insulted.

“The British government and its officials knew that the claimant was being subjected to mistreatment amounting to torture and inhumane and degrading treatment because he told them so,” the court papers said. snip

He has insisted he was only in Afghanistan to study Arabic, and returned to Britain without charge in 2004.