Detainee wins right to documents in case of trial

LONDON

Friday, 29 August 2008 15:47:13

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A British court says the U.S. has agreed to hand over documents critical to the defense of a Guantanamo Bay detainee _ but only if he goes on trial.

Lord Justice John Thomas wrote that U.S. officials have promised to provide 44 documents sought by Binyan Mohamed's lawyers. Mohamed says he was tortured while in U.S. custody.

Mohamed's attorneys sought the documents from Britain. But Foreign Secretary David Miliband fought disclosure on national security grounds.

Mohamed was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and accused of conspiring with al-Qaida leaders.

Neither the United States nor Britain has disclosed information about his time in custody until he arrived at Guantanamo Bay in 2004.