London, Aug.22 : A British High Court has ruled that MI5 colluded in the interrogation of a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay.

According to The Telegraph, Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian formerly living in London, and facing the death penalty for allegedly plotting a radioactive "dirty bomb" attack on high-rise apartment buildings in the US, claimed in a military commission confession that he was subjected to secret rendition and torture.

The High Court said the role of MI5 during Mohamed's questioning in Pakistan went far beyond that of a by-stander.

Lord Justice Thomas said the court had concluded that the conduct of MI5 "facilitated interviews by or on behalf of the United States when BM was being detained by the United States incommunicado and without access to a lawyer in Pakistan in the period April 2002 until at least 17 May 2002 when he was seen by an officer of the Security Service".

Under the law of Pakistan, he said, "that detention was unlawful".

The court also concluded "that MI5 continued to facilitate the interviewing of BM by providing information and questions after 17 May 2002 in the knowledge of what was reported to them as to the circumstances of his detention and treatment in Pakistan". Lord Justice Thomas said: "By seeking to interview BM in the circumstances found in Pakistan and supplying information and questions for his interviews, the relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States authorities was far beyond that of a bystander or witness to the alleged wrongdoing."

The judgment said: "The court has no doubt that on the basis of that information the Security Service were right to conclude that BM was a person of great potential significance and a serious potential threat to the national security of the United Kingdom."

The British government asked for the release of Mohamed and four other British residents who were not citizens in August last year but Mohamed was formally charged in June this year.

ANI