UK pays ‘substantial’ compensation to Guantanamo detainee, says lawyer

LONDON – The British government has paid “substantial” compensation to a Guantanamo detainee who was tortured by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and has been held there without charge for two decades, his lawyer said on Jan 12.

Abu Zubaydah, 54, was the first of a number of prisoners to be subjected to CIA “enhanced interrogation” techniques following the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The Saudi-born Palestinian – whose full name is Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn – was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and has been held without trial at the US Guantanamo Bay military camp in Cuba since 2006.

He was waterboarded 83 times and suffered other physical abuse, according to a US Senate report, which said the CIA conceded he was never a member of Al-Qaeda and was not involved in planning the 9/11 attacks.

Britain’s Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that he could use English law in a legal claim against the British government over alleged complicity in the torture.

Ms Helen Duffy, his international legal counsel, said in a statement sent to AFP that the case had now reached a financial settlement.

“The payment is significant, but clearly insufficient to meet the UK’s obligations. More must be done to bring this chapter to an end,” said Ms Duffy.

“Critically, the UK should seek to facilitate the immediate release of Abu Zubaydah, and other prisoners held without charge or trial at Guantanamo,” she said.

She added that, among other tactics, Zubaydah was also locked into a coffin-sized box for 11 days and two hours, “left to marinate in his own urine and faeces”.

Zubaydah alleged that London was “vicariously liable” for multiple wrongs against him, including conspiracy to injure, false imprisonment and negligence.

He sought personal damages for injuries which he says were sustained during interrogation at CIA “black site” facilities in Thailand, Poland, Morocco, Lithuania and Afghanistan, as well as Guantanamo.

He has not argued that British forces were involved in his capture or his rendition to the facilities, or present during his mistreatment.

But he accused Britain’s intelligence agencies – MI5 and MI6 – of being aware of his torture, and even “sent numerous questions” to the CIA for the purpose of eliciting information from him.

Two other cases

The British government declined to comment.

It has neither admitted nor denied that officials knew where Zubaydah was being held at any given time, or that they were aware of his treatment, arguing they cannot do so for national security reasons.

It has argued that the laws of the six countries where Zubaydah was held should apply to the case.

But in 2023, the UK Supreme Court upheld an earlier Court of Appeal ruling that the laws of England and Wales applied.

For years, calls have multiplied in the UK, to no avail, for full disclosure about the actions of British secret services in the US “war on terror” alongside their American allies.

In 2023, lawyers for two other Guantanamo detainees – Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri – accused Britain of being “complicit” with the CIA in their torture after 9/11.

Both brought civil complaints to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal – a specialist UK court that investigates complaints about British intelligence agencies.

In October the body ruled that, in Hawsawi’s case, the intelligence services did not act unlawfully.

Nashiri’s case is still ongoing. AFP