Downing Street Says » Binyam Mohamed

Asked whether the Obama administration reaffirmed the threat to withhold intelligence, the Prime Minister s Spokesman (PMS) told the assembled press that he thought there were a number of assumptions in the question and he was not sure whether we would agree with any of them. Asked whether he recognised the fact that the Obama administration was refusing to share or would reconsider intelligence sharing with the UK if the evidence was released, the PMS suggested that people asked the Obama administration that question.

Asked what the British Government s understanding was of the point of order raised by David Davies in the House and the judgement that was made today, the PMS said that he was sure there would be a full response from the Foreign Office in due course. This was a court case that the Government won today. The suggestion that we had a duty to disclose material had originated in the US and the High Court had ruled in our favour.

Asked if the UK Government had been complicit in torture, the PMS said that this had been a longstanding issue and he didn t think there was anything new about this today. As we had said on many occasions, our policy on torture was very clear; we unreservedly condemned the use of torture and took any allegations of mistreatment very seriously. We took full account of our commitments under international law, including the UN Convention Against Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights.

Asked whether the Government was aware of any communication from the Obama administration on the withholding of intelligence, the PMS said it was news to him and he advised people to speak to the Foreign Office. Put that David Davies had said that the US Government had threatened our High Court that if it released the information, the US Government would withdraw its intelligence cooperation with the UK on matters of security, the PMS replied that he was not aware of any such threat. The PMS added that detailed questions on one individual would be best addressed to the Foreign Office.

Put that the judge had made a point about the US administration threatening to withhold intelligence, the PMS said that we were still examining the totality of what the judges had said, but the point was that the court found in our favour today in this case. Put that the Foreign Office Counsel had checked with the Obama administration that this was the case, the PMS said we had not engaged with the US administration on the detail of this case.

The PMS added that this individual took this action in court to force the Government to disclose material originating in the US that he said supported his case. We opposed that and the High Court had supported us. Put that he seemed to be accusing the Foreign Office Counsel of perjury, the PMS replied that he was not accusing anyone of anything and he would not enter a discussion about the very specific details of an individual court case.

Asked if the Prime Minister had spoken to President Obama in general terms about intelligence sharing, the PMS said that we wouldn t normally comment on issues relating to intelligence. We had a strong intelligence relationship with the US and that would continue.

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» Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Binyam Mohamed

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