ONE of the four British terrorism suspects freed from the American internment camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, intends to sue the Government for colluding in his detention, his lawyers said yesterday.

Martin Mubanga, 32, a former motorcycle courier from North London, said that an MI6 officer had interrogated him after he was captured in Zambia in 2002, before he was flown to the camp at a US naval base in Cuba.

In an interview published by two Sunday newspapers, Mr Mubanga said that the British official, named Martin, had questioned him about his British passport and a list of alleged terrorist targets that was said to have been found with it in Afghanistan.

Mr Mubanga, who was held by the Americans for almost three years and claims that he was subjected to beatings and degrading treatment, said that his passport had been stolen.

Louise Christian, Mr Mubanga’s solicitor, said: “We are hoping to issue proceedings for the misfeasance of officials who colluded with the Americans in effectively kidnapping him and taking him to Guantanamo.”

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, said that there would be no inquiry into Mr Mubanga’s allegations and claimed that media comment about Guantanamo Bay was ill-informed.

Mr Clarke told Breakfast With Frost on BBC One: “Anybody in my job has to have national security at the centre of their concerns. And if there are people who threaten national security, it is necessary to deal with that and address it in a very rigorous way.”

Mr Mubanga said that he had travelled to Pakistan in 2001 to study Islam. He entered Afghanistan via Peshawar and studied at madrasas (religious schools) in Kabul, the capital, and Kandahar, the Taleban stronghold.

When US forces attacked Afghanistan, Mr Mubanga managed to flee across the border to Pakistan. Having lost his British passport, his family forwarded him his Zambian passport and he used that to travel to Africa. He was arrested there and flown to Guantanamo Bay because the US authorities had categorised him as “an enemy combatant”.

Mr Mubanga, who converted to Islam while in a young offenders’ institute in Britain, denied being involved with al-Qaeda and said that he condemned the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

• Terror suspects held at Belmarsh prison and Broadmoor high-security hospital are launching a case against their detention at the European Court of Human Rights. Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, is seeking an opt-out of the European Convention on Human Rights by declaring a “public emergency” at the hands of such terror suspects.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Please help: maimed children of war want their lives back
• Unlocking the cruellest prison
• Prince Charles named in £81m court battle