Gitmo Detainee who Claimed Torture is Freed

LONDON-A Guantanamo prisoner who claims he was tortured at a covert CIA site in Morocco returned to Britain a free man Monday after nearly seven years in U.S. captivity-the first inmate from the U.S. prison camp freed since President Barack Obama took office. Binyam Mohamed, once accused by U.S. officials of being part of a conspiracy to detonate a "dirty bomb" on American soil, flew to a British military base.He was released after being interviewed for four hours by police and immigration officials. He had to fill out new paperwork for residency since his permit expired in 2004.Mohamed's claims of torture, abuse and extraordinary rendition are at the heart of several lawsuits.Lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic are suing for secret documents they say prove the United States sent Mohamed to Morocco and that Britain knew of the mistreatment-a violation under the 1994 U.N. Convention Against Torture."I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares," Mohamed said in a statement released by his attorneys. "Before this ordeal, `torture' was an abstract word to me...It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways all orchestrated by the United States government."He said he wasn't yet "physically nor mentally capable of facing the media."His lawyers said they would provide money for his accommodations and living expenses.Mohamed's case could have far-reaching legal implications for the Obama administration and Britain, America's closest partner during its "war on terror."U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is expected at the Guantanamo detention center Monday as the Obama administration weighs what is needed to shut the facility down."The friendship and assistance of the international community is vitally important as we work to close Guantanamo, and we greatly appreciate the efforts of the British government to work with us on the transfer of Binyam Mohammed," Holder said in a statement.Britain's attorney general has opened an investigation into whether there was criminal wrongdoing on the part of Britain or a British security agent from MI5 who interrogated Mohamed in Pakistan, where he was arrested in 2002....


By PAISLEY DODDS,AP Writer
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As in the days of Noah...