Responding to the BBC interview today with former Guantánamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed, Amnesty International UK Campaigns Director Tim Hancock said:

“Binyam Mohamed’s interview only adds to the need for a proper independent inquiry into his very serious allegations over UK complicity in illegal detention, torture, and the wider practice of rendition and secret detention.

“The UK government should also now press for the release of Shaker Aamer and Ahmed Belbacha - two other men with longstanding links to the UK - who are still held at Guantánamo Bay.

“It should also assist moves to close the camp by offering ‘humanitarian protection’ to vulnerable prisoners who need a place to go to - something that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was speaking about earlier this week.”

Some 240 prisoners are still held at the prison camp, with an estimated 50 currently on hunger strike - many being force-fed. Some 60 men are known to be at risk of torture or persecution if returned to their home countries, and while the US may permit some of the men to be admitted to the US mainland the remaining detainees are likely to need “humanitarian protection” in other countries upon release.