London: Britain is to investigate alleged mistreatment of one of its nationals held at the Guantanamo Bay US detention camp, an official said today.

Binyam Mohamed, who was detained in Pakistan in 2002,and is the last remaining Guantanamo detainee with a right to return to Britain, has been held in the US detention camp since 2004.

"We can confirm that the Home Secretary (interior minister) has asked the attorney general to look at issues around the case and we ll await the outcome of that process," a ministry spokeswoman told AFP, declining to elaborate.

The government s in-house legal department wrote to High Court judges presiding over Mohamed s case calling for Britain to release evidence that could help his defense and to inform them that "the question of possible criminal wrongdoing" was referred to Attorney General Baroness Patricia Scotland.

According to The Guardian newspaper, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith sent Scotland evidence regarding involvement by Britain s domestic intelligence agency MI5 and America s CIA in Mohamed s case.

It said the evidence was suppressed after gagging orders by Foreign Secretary David Miliband and US authorities.

"This is a welcome recognition that the CIA cannot just go rendering British residents to secret torture chambers without any consequences, and British agents cannot take part in American crimes without facing the music," said Clive Stafford-Smith, director of legal charity Reprieve.

Reprieve, which represents several Guantanamo detainees including Mohamed, says the case against him should be dropped.
Source : PTI