The British government has reached an out-of-court settlement, paying a substantial sum to a detainee held for over two decades at the US military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The payment resolves a lawsuit brought by Abu Zubaydah, who alleged UK intelligence services were complicit in his rendition and torture at secret CIA prisons.
Allegations of UK Involvement in Interrogation
According to his legal team, Abu Zubaydah accused MI5 and MI6 of providing questions to his CIA interrogators while he was being subjected to so-called 'enhanced interrogation techniques'. This cooperation allegedly occurred while he was held at a series of clandestine CIA black sites between 2002 and 2006, located in countries including Thailand, Lithuania, Poland, Afghanistan, and Morocco.
Abu Zubaydah, a 54-year-old stateless Palestinian, was one of the first high-value detainees captured in the US war on terror. Seized in Pakistan in March 2002, he was initially labelled a senior al-Qaida figure—a claim the US has since dropped, no longer alleging he was even a member of the group.
A History of Torture and 'Forever Imprisonment'
Evidence from a 2014 US Senate report and other investigations details the extreme abuse he endured. His treatment included being waterboarded 83 times in one month, confined in a coffin-sized box for over 11 days, and subjected to beatings, sleep deprivation, and painful stress positions.
Despite never being charged with a crime, he remains incarcerated at Guantánamo Bay, epitomising the term 'forever prisoner'. In recent years, he has communicated his experiences through a series of harrowing drawings depicting his time in the black sites.
Legal Precedent and Call for Accountability
The path to settlement was paved by a landmark UK Supreme Court ruling in December 2023. The court rejected government arguments that his case fell under foreign jurisdictions, stating the alleged wrongs were committed by UK intelligence services 'acting in their official capacity'.
While the exact settlement figure remains confidential, his international counsel, Helen Duffy, stated it provides a measure of redress. She emphasised that the case holds critical lessons today about the costs of cooperating with allies who flout international law. Duffy called for the UK to formally apologise and actively seek Abu Zubaydah's release, along with that of other detainees held without charge.
The UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not comment on the settlement. Notably, the payment was not accompanied by any admission of liability from the British government.
