From the Guardian...


Binyam Mohamed torture evidence 'hidden from Obama'

Letter to president about Binyam Mohamed was blanked out, say
campaigners as they prepare for Guantánamo prisoner's release to UK


US defence officials are preventing Barack Obama from seeing evidence
that a former British resident held in Guantánamo Bay has been tortured,
the prisoner's lawyer said last night, as campaigners and the Foreign
Office prepared for the man's release in as little as a week.

Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the legal charity Reprieve, which
represents Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, sent Obama evidence of what he
called "truly mediaeval" abuse but substantial parts were blanked out so
the president could not read it.

In the letter to the president [PDF] , Stafford Smith urges him to order
the disclosure of the evidence.

Stafford Smith tells Obama he should be aware of the "bizarre reality"
of the situation. "You, as commander in chief, are being denied access
to material that would help prove that crimes have been committed by US
personnel. This decision is being made by the very people who you command."

It is understood US defence officials might have censored the evidence
to protect the president from criminal liability or political embarrassment.

The letter and its blanked-out attachment were disclosed as two high
court judges yesterday agreed to reopen the court case in which
Mohamed's lawyers, the Guardian and other media are seeking disclosure
of evidence of alleged torture against him. Mohamed's lawyers are
challenging the judges' gagging order, claiming that David Miliband, the
foreign secretary, changed his evidence.

In a judgment last week, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones
stated repeatedly that Miliband claimed the US had threatened to stop
sharing intelligence with the UK if information relating to Mohamed's
alleged torture was disclosed. Miliband subsequently denied the US had
applied such pressure. The case will be reopened next month.

After a meeting with Mohamed's US-appointed military lawyer, Lieutenant
Colonel Yvonne Bradley, Miliband said yesterday that the US had granted
permission for Foreign Office officials to visit Mohamed. The Foreign
Office said the officials would be joined by a Metropolitan police
doctor, who would accompany Mohamed back to the UK if he is released.

Stafford Smith said he believed this trip was to check Mohamed was fit
to fly after the hunger strike that he has maintained for over a month.
He stressed that no date for his client's release had been fixed, but "I
think we're talking about a week, I sincerely hope so".

Millband said the US administration had agreed to treat Mohamed's case
as "a priority", adding that Britain was working with Washington for "a
swift resolution". Bradley said later: "We haven't been given any
specific date about Mr Mohamed's release."

Earlier, she told a press conference that Mohamed's treatment "would
make waterboarding seem like child's play".

Bradley and Stafford Smith yesterday met in private with members of the
intelligence and security committee, the group of MPs and peers facing
mounting criticism in Westminster over claims it failed to effectively
scrutinise the activities of MI5. Stafford Smith said he told the
committee it would have been "absolutely impossible" for it to have
cleared MI5 of involvement in the torture of Mohamed had it seen 42 key
documents in the case – as he has – that Miliband says cannot be
released for reasons of national security.

Bill Delahunt, a senior Democrat congressman and chairman of the House
of Representatives subcommittee on human rights and oversight, said: "We
cannot let our governments stonewall ... I take offence at the idea that
secrecy is being maintained in order to preserve national security." He
told the all-party committee on rendition: "The treatment of detainees
has done great harm to the security of both our nations."

Lieutenant Colonel Nigel Wylde, who worked in intelligence in Northern
Ireland, told the committee: "The use of torture is utterly
counterproductive because it breeds hatred against us and encourages
people to become extremists."

David Davies, a former shadow home secretary, said torture was wrong
morally and legally, ineffective and undermined the safety of British
people. "Was the government involved, was it a matter of policy or a
matter of freelancing – failure of policy or a failure of control?"

The Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, Edward Davey, said:
"Miliband's bad judgment in blocking the courts from publishing this
evidence of torture is being compounded by his refusal to press the new
Obama administration to disclose this evidence freely."

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Yet another reason not to believe the foxes guarding the henhouse.