UK court orders release of torture documents

The British High Court has ruled that US intelligence documents on the alleged torture of a former British resident can be released.

Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian who moved to Britain as a teenager, was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan. Mohamed says he was tortured before being moved to Guantanamo Bay in 2004.

He accuses the British authorities of colluding in his torture. The UK government denies the allegations and says it will appeal against the court's judgment. Foreign Secretary David Miliband says he is deeply disappointed with the ruling.

He expressed concern that the decision could cause the US to limit the information it shares with Britain. However in a previous statement Miliband said Britain sees no reason why the documents should not be released.

The case began more than a year ago when Mohamed was facing a military trial at Guantanamo. His lawyers sued the British government for intelligence documents they said could prove that evidence against him had been gathered under torture.

But later, President Barack Obama took office and US charges against Mohamed were dropped and he was sent back to Britain, a chain of events that led to the lawsuit in Britain becoming a larger battle for access to information.