Hillary Clinton threatens to cut spy links with UK over 'torture'

By Dan Newling

July 30, 2009

Hillary Clinton has threatened to end intelligence sharing with Britain if the High Court publishes its findings on what happened to former terror detainee Binyam Mohamed.

Letters from the U.S. Secretary of State and the CIA to the Government warn they will cease co-operation with British counterparts if two judges release details about Mr Mohamed's alleged torture.

Human rights campaigners yesterday claimed the threat - which could put British lives at risk - was merely a ' smokescreen', but Foreign Secretary David Miliband insisted it was serious.

Hillary Clinton has threatened to end intelligence sharing with Britain if the High Court publishes its findings on what happened to Binyam Mohamed

As if to reiterate the matter last night Mrs Clinton, speaking in Washington, said intelligence sharing was 'critically important' to Britain and the U.S.

The details of the threat were revealed yesterday during a long-running - and increasingly bitter - court battle between the Foreign Secretary and former Guantanamo Bay inmate Mr Mohamed.

At the centre of the affair are seven paragraphs of a court judgment which Mr Mohamed claims prove that British agents colluded in the torture he endured after being arrested in 2002.

He has repeatedly claimed that British agents were complicit in his torture after he was arrested in Pakistan.

Lawyers for Mr Miliband told Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones that the threat by America had been assessed as having a 'high-risk threshold'.

Yesterday, Lord Justice Thomas pointed out that the paragraphs in themselves did not pose any threat to national security.

He said: 'So the U.S. has taken the position that this is so serious that it is prepared to reassess its relationship with the UK and put lives at risk?'

Mr Miliband's legal team said both Mrs Clinton and the CIA had written to him to insist the information remain secret.

'Wriggle room': Lawyers for David Miliband argued the US's threat to restrict intelligence co-operation was 'high risk'

By publicly acknowledging the threat to U.S./UK intelligence sharing arrangements, Mrs Clinton has 'ridden to the rescue' of Mr Miliband, human rights activists said.

They claimed that by 'hiding behind' the U.S. threat, Mr Miliband was able to continue concealing the 'ugly truth' about British involvement in torture abroad.

Mr Mohamed has claimed British intelligence agents knew about - and were complicit in - his torture in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Morocco.

The contentious seven paragraphs are a summary of 42 CIA documents, which are said to confirm his claims.

While in detention, Mr Mohamed says he was hung up by straps, beaten and had his genitals mutilated with a scalpel to make him confess to a 'dirty bomb' plot.

Karen Steyn, appearing for the Foreign Secretary, said Mrs Clinton and the CIA had written official letters warning that under the new Obama administration, the U.S. would review its intelligence sharing agreement with the UK if the court releases the information.

Mrs Steyn went on to say that disclosure of the seven paragraphs 'could reasonably be expected to cause considerable damage to the national security of the UK'.

The only reason Mr Miliband opposes the disclosure of the seven paragraphs, she told the court, was to protect the national security and international relations of the UK.

However, Guy Vassall-Adams, representing the various media groups who are backing Mr Mohamed's battle to publish the information, argued that the Foreign Office's stance did not pass the 'common sense test'.

He said it was highly unrealistic to suggest that the publication of seven paragraphs would cause the U.S. authorities to be so 'upset and shocked' that they might refuse to share vital intelligence with the UK in the future.

Mr Vassall-Adams said such a situation was 'unthinkable' in the light of the historical alliance between the two nations.

In previous hearings the judges have expressed frustration at not being allowed to release the information.

Both judges yesterday seemed unwilling to rely on Mrs Steyn's representations of Mr Miliband's opinion.

Lord Justice Thomas insisted a transcript of the hearing be sent to Mr Miliband so that there was 'no wriggle room'.

Ethiopian-born Mr Mohamed came to the UK as a 16-year-old asylum seeker and lived here for seven years. Shortly after September 11, 2001, he was picked up by the American secret service in Pakistan.

Accused of being a terrorist, he was held for six and a half years in U.S. custody.

Mr Miliband has repeatedly insisted Britain 'abhors' torture and never orders or condones it. Speaking after talks with Mrs Clinton yesterday, he said not disclosing allies' intelligence was a 'fundamental principle'.

Mrs Clinton added: 'The issue of intelligence sharing is one which is critically important to our two countries and we both have a stake in ensuring that it continues to the fullest extent possible.'