Obama Justice Dept. Again Warns Britain Not to Reveal Details of Torture of Gitmo Detainee

[bigtree]

May 14, 2009

LONDON — Renewing a warning given to Britain while President George W. Bush was in office, the Obama administration has threatened to curb the exchange of intelligence information between the countries if a British court makes public the details of the interrogation techniques used against a former Guantánamo Bay detainee who claims he was tortured.

In a letter forwarded to the High Court in London by British government lawyers this month, the Obama administration said the flow of information could be affected if the court made public a summary prepared by the Bush administration for Britain’s Foreign Office on the treatment of the former detainee, Binyam Mohamed. Mr. Mohamed, 30, a citizen of Ethiopia who was arrested as a suspected terrorist in Pakistan in 2002, was released from Guantánamo and flown to Britain three months ago.

{snip}

Lawyers involved in the court case are bound by a court order not to disclose the contents of crucial documents, including the letter threatening curbs on intelligence cooperation, at least until the judges decide whether to order the publication of the summary of Mr. Mohamed’s treatment. That decision is expected within weeks. But the lawyers confirmed the accuracy of the quotations from the letter that appeared in The Washington Times.

The letter warned that if the British government “is unable to protect information we provide to it, even if that inability is caused by your judicial system, we will necessarily have to review with the greatest care the sensitivity of information we can provide in the future.”

The letter also said the “seven paragraphs at issue are based upon classified information shared between our countries,” and that “public disclosure of this information reasonably could be expected to cause serious damage to the United Kingdom’s national security” if the United States withheld intelligence information in the future.


read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/world/europe/15britain.html?_r=1&ref=europe&pagewanted=print

[aquart]

1. Or what?

[bigtree]

3. or they won't share their politicized 'intelligence'

[leftstreet]

2. Yeah, or what?

I'd like to know

[bigtree]

4. no more hot tips

[democracy1st]

5. WTF ?

[Supersedeas]

10. another head-scratcher

[depakid]

6. I hope the British stand up to this renewed bullying

If the Obama administration wants to behave like the Bush administration, they deserve a royal smackdown.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Turley was right, Bush 2.0

and if you don't like it loyalist, so be it

[mwooldri]

8. Original case is essentially being re-visited...

... the judges stated that the Foreign Office had a good case but so did Mr. Mohamed. From reading the 4th February ruling (well skimming it, it's 34 pages long!) it appears that there would be a problem even if a summary of the seven paragraphs in question were published.

These judges I trust will uphold the law... Mr. Mohamed's lawyers had a good reason for them to re-visit the judgment and the judges agreed to look into the case again. If Mr. Mohamed fails then there might be further recourse to the Law Lords or the European Courts... that I don't know.

[bigtree]

9. right

Britain's government pushing back against their courts . . . like our government is doing here in the U.S. I really can't tell who'll blink first.

[flyarm]

11. k&r

[defendandprotect]

12. The coverup widens . . . interesting the need to "warn" . . . .

to keep this evidence from the American public!!!

[EFerrari]

13. How thuggish and embarrassing.

[Vidar]

14. I hope the British tell us to shove it.