Binyam Mohamed judgement

21 Aug 2008

An FCO spokesperson commented on the High Court judgement on the case of Binyam Mohamed, a former Guantanamo Bay detainee.

An FCO spokesman commented on the judgement reached in the Binyam Mohamed case at the High Court on Thursday 21 August. They said,

'We are considering the implications of this judgement very carefully.

We have never contested that Mr Mohamed's defence lawyers should have access to information which would assist him in his defence in any trial at Guantanamo Bay.

The Court recognised the strenuous efforts that we have made to assist Mr Mohamed in Guantanamo Bay, including efforts to ensure that the information HMG holds, which relates to a small part of Mr Mohamed’s account of what happened to him, is made available to him for purposes of his defence in any prosecution in the US system.

For strong reasons of national security, to which the Court accepted we were entitled to give the highest weight, we could not agree to disclose this information voluntarily. These and other issues relating to national security will be considered at a further hearing next week.'