A British court Friday made public a ruling criticizing domestic intelligence agency MI5's handling of alleged victim of torture overseas, rejecting a government attempt to keep it secret. A three-judge panel at Britain's Court of Appeal published a paragraph of a judge's draft ruling that was previously withheld after government lawyer Jonathan Sumption complained it contained unsubstantiated criticism. That ruling published details of the mistreatment of ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed, who alleges he was tortured in Pakistan in 2002. MI5 has previously denied it was aware of Mohamed's mistreatment, a claim rejected by David Neuberger, one of the country's most senior judges, in a first draft of his ruling. In the paragraph disclosed Friday, Neuberger questions MI5's claim to operate to the highest standard of human rights. “As the evidence in this case shows, at least some SyS (security service) officials appear to have a dubious record when it comes to human rights and coercive techniques,” his original ruling said. The paragraph was part of the information disclosed Friday. He also criticized MI5 for seeking to suppress information about the case, suggesting it called into question evidence the agency had provided to a Parliamentary oversight committee. Lawyers acting for Mohamed, and media organizations had demanded the details of Neuberger's original ruling be released.
