The government was yesterday accused of dragging its feet in dealing with allegations that British intelligence were complicit in the torture of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Binyam Mohamed.
The government was yesterday accused of dragging its feet in dealing with allegations that British intelligence were complicit in the torture of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Binyam Mohamed.
Mr Mohamed's lawyers said the last thing the government wanted was for the "truth to come out".
Ethiopia-born Mr Mohamed, a British resident, used an interview to claim MI5 fed his US captors specific questions which he said led him to falsely confess to terrorist activities.
But Home Secretary Jacqui Smith yesterday insisted that the government did not condone or use torture.
Politicians and human rights groups have lined up to call for an inquiry and a police investigation into Mr Mohamed's torture claims.
Ms Smith told Sky News: "We absolutely oppose torture in this country. We don't condone it, we don't use it.
"Our international partners know that is our position and if allegations are made we will always investigate them and that will involve, if necessary, police investigations."
But Mr Mohamed's lawyers and human rights group Reprieve yesterday accused her of empty words.
Reprieve founder Clive Stafford Smith said: "Pious words are all very well but what we really need is actions."
In an interview in the Mail on Sunday, Mr Mohamed, who was released from the notorious detention centre in Cuba last month, revealed harrowing details of his imprisonment, including allegations that he was held at a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan.
He claimed that while kept in Kabul's "dark prison" he was forced to remain in continuous darkness for weeks on end.
He claims he was shackled in the prison, forced to listen to endless music, kept in a standing position, fed contaminated food and denied proper washing facilities.
The allegations were referred to the Attorney General's Office, who will determine if police should conduct a criminal investigation.
Mr Stafford Smith said: "We are not interested in conducting a witch hunt. We simply want an investigation. We can't learn from history if we don't know what the history was."
He added: "The British government knew that Binyam Mohamed was being tortured and they did nothing about it. You can't be opposed to torture but not do anything about it."
Mr Stafford Smith added: "The government keeps telling us that the Attorney General is looking into the case. "She was assigned to do that in October. Four months later we have heard nothing. It is hard to take seriously the government's position. The last thing they want is the truth to come out."
A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office said that specialist prosecutors from the Crown Prosecution Service were still considering the allegations.
There was still no definite timescale on when a decision would be reached, he said.
Mr Mohamed lived in London before his arrest in Pakistan in 2002 on suspicion of involvement in terrorism.
He had been held in captivity since then and was imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay from September 2004 onwards.
