Yard launches probe into MI5 torture claims

A police investigation has begun into claims that MI5 officers were complicit in the torture of former Guantanamo Bay inmate Binyam Mohamed.

Scotland Yard will focus on allegations that the British intelligence agency were complicit in the torture of the Ethiopian-born former detainee while in US custody in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan. MI5 denies the claims.

Today's formal announcement of the investigation follows a decision by the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, to refer the case to the police.

The investigation is likely to focus on an MI5 officer known as Witness B, who travelled to Karachi in 2002 to question Mr Mohamed and who is alleged to have told him that he would only be released from custody if he cooperated.

Mr Mohamed, who was freed from Guantanamo earlier this year, was arrested in 2002 in Pakistan and

was regarded by the US authorities as a potential bomber who fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan. Mr Mohamed denies the allegations.

In a statement today, the Met said: "The Metropolitan Police Service was invited by the Attorney General to investigate allegations surrounding the detention of Binyam Mohamed.

"The papers were reviewed and the investigation accepted. A team of detectives, working to Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, has now been selected and vetted and a criminal investigation has now begun."