He came to Britain as a 16-year-old Ethiopian schoolboy seeking asylum. Today, emaciated by a hunger strike, Binyam Mohamed is in Guantánamo Bay and the real worry is that he will leave in a coffin, an American military lawyer has admitted.

Mr Mohamed, 30, was arrested at Karachi airport by Pakistani authorities as he tried to board a London-bound flight in April 2002. His photograph had been inserted into another man’s genuine British passport.

So began an odyssey of extraordinary rendition between prisons in Pakistan, Morocco, Afghanistan and Cuba. By his account he was tortured; his penis and chest sliced with a scalpel and a hot stinging liquid was poured into the open wounds.

MI6 obtained permission from the US to interview Mr Mohamed. He alleges that his torturers later tried to break his will by giving details of his education in Britain, the name of his kickboxing trainer and his friendships. Only British intelligence could have passed this information, he believes.

Mr Mohamed originally came to London in 1978 after a short period in the US. He was refused refugee status by Britain but granted exceptional leave to remain for four years in 2000. He studied electrical and electronic engineering and converted to Islam.

In June 2001 he went to Afghanistan. He says his intention was to try to kick a drug habit and to see if the Taleban had produced a good Muslim country.

He said the US alerted British intelligence that he was planning to construct and detonate a radioactive “dirty” bomb. An MI6 official was allowed to interview him in Pakistan.

Mr Mohamed admitted being recruited to travel to Afghanistan for weapons training. When the Taleban were toppled, he was trained how to use remote-controlled devices against the American invaders. He said he had been asked to return to Britain to help in the provision of passports.

In interviews with US officials he confessed to being involved with al-Qaeda and terrorism. He says the confessions were a result of torture.

He was charged with a dirty bomb plot but the charges were withdrawn.

On December 29, 2008, he began a hunger strike at being forced to stay in Cuba although he had been cleared for freedom.

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