British detainee describes torture in Guantanamo
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-01-30 09:21

One of four Britons freed last week from US detention in Guantanamo Bay, described being tortured, witnessing the killing of fellow detainees by US interrogators and receiving threats to his family.

Father of Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, Azhmat Begg. Moazzam Begg, one of four Britons freed from US detention in Guantanamo Bay, described being tortured, witnessing the killing of fellow detainees by US interrogators and receiving threats to his family. [AFP]

Moazzam Begg, arrested in Pakistan in January 2001, said that his interrogation beginning at Bagram air base in Afghanistan included being shackled and dragged, having a "suffocating hood" placed on his head and being struck in the head several times, in a testimony quoted in The Independent.

He also said he had witnessed two fatal beatings during interrogations by US officials in Afghanistan. "Two of these beatings resulted in the deaths of two detainees in June and December 2002. I was witness to both, in some fashion," said Begg.

He also said that he was interrogated more than 250 times during his detention, according to the newspaper.

Begg's 25-page testimony was written while in solitary confinement last year at the Camp Delta detention center on Cuba, in order to rebut US and British government allegations of his terrorist activities.

He said that a confession he signed at Guantanamo Bay was executed "by coercion, and under duress".

He and Richard Belmar, Martin Mubanga, and Feroz Abbasi returned to Britain on Tuesday. They were arrested by British police immediately but released on Wednesday without being charged.

Begg is currently in a "safe house" with his family, The Independent on Sunday said.

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