Ex-Guantanamo detainees settle suit against Britain

Several former Guantanamo Bay detainees who sued Britain for alleged complicity in their torture will receive unspecified settlement payments from the government, officials said Tuesday.

The former prisoners accused Britain’s domestic spy agency, MI5, and the country’s overseas intelligence service, MI6, of violating international law by doing nothing to stop the torture the detainees say they suffered at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. British agents were not accused of torturing the detainees.

Although British officials did not specify how many former detainees would receive settlements, 16 former prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and other overseas detention centers were expected to receive payments based on the accusations of at least 12 of them, according to BBC and other reports.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said in a statement to Parliament that mediated settlements had been reached. The confidentiality of such agreements is legally binding and therefore details will not be made public, Clarke said.

The settlements are expected to total millions of dollars, according to news reports quoting confidential sources.

British intelligence officials said in a statement that the settlements would allow MI5 and MI6 to concentrate on “protecting national security.”

The former detainees include Binyam Mohamed, Bisher Rawi, Jamil Banna, Richard Belmar, Omar Deghayes, Moazzam Begg and Martin Mubanga, who were all imprisoned at Guantanamo. Some were also held in Afghanistan, Morocco and Egypt as suspected terrorists but were released after years of detention.

The men sued in Britain’s High Court, claiming that British intelligence services masterminded their rendition, or capture and transport, to various locations, including Guantanamo, as well as their subsequent torture. Waterboarding and beating were among the methods used, they said. One former prisoner claims he lost sight in one eye after it was severely rubbed with a pepper-saturated cloth.

Clarke said the settlements avoided lengthy and expensive court proceedings. The government reportedly did not admit liability and the detainees did not withdraw their allegations.

“We have saved public money instead of continuing to contest the claims,” Clarke said. “It was better to settle it than just let it go on. No one should read into this any liability.”

Government officials also expressed concern about any public disclosure of evidence they considered a risk to international security.

The new coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats led by Prime Minister David Cameron, keen to distance itself from the allegations of torture brought while the Labor Party was in power, negotiated the settlement. Officials are still investigating some allegations made by the detainees.

Stobart is a staff writer in The Times’ London Bureau.