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UK Guantánamo detainee enjoys 1st day of freedom

Associated Press

Custard-filled doughnuts, cheese, hummus and bread with chocolate spread were on the menu Tuesday as a former Guantánamo detainee spent his first full day of freedom after seven years in captivity.

Ethiopian refugee Binyam Mohamed was freed Monday from the U.S. prison camp in Cuba and flown to Britain, where he was met by his sister, Zuhra Mohamed.

All charges of Mohamed's alleged involvement in a ''dirty bomb'' plot in the United States were dropped without explanation in October, and British officials finally persuaded the United States to release him.

Since his arrest in Pakistan in 2002, Mohamed alleges that the American and British governments were complicit in his torture at an alleged CIA covert site in Morocco. He also says he was abused by Pakistan intelligence agents and later by American personnel in Afghanistan and Guantánamo.

''He'll spend this week just clearing his head,'' his former defense attorney US Air Force Lt. Col. Yvonne Bradley told The Associated Press. ``After that, counselors will be lined up to help him and he'll consider speaking to the media. I don't think a lot of this has hit him yet.''

Mohamed was staying at a ''nice and quiet'' house in the English countryside, according to Bradley. His lawyers, including Clive Stafford Smith from the legal charity Reprieve, have offered to take care of his expenses until he gets back on his feet.

Former Guantánamo detainee Moazzam Begg spent the day with Mohamed and took him shopping.

''We talked a lot -- mostly about the people still being held in Guantánamo -- and we ate a lot of biscuits (cookies),'' Begg said. ``He's extremely emaciated.''

Begg said Mohamed was in good spirits and happy to be back but was also trying to adjust to the English weather. Average temperatures in Cuba around this time of here hover around 78 degrees (26 Celsius) compared to an average of 50 degrees (10 degrees Celsius) in London.

''He's been wearing a jacket most of the time,'' Begg said.

Mohamed had been on a monthlong hunger strike in January before his release was confirmed.

Mohamed has been granted temporary residency in Britain -- his permit expired during his detention -- but British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there are no guarantees of permanent residency.

His siblings live in the United States and his parents are back in Ethiopia.

''Mr. Mohamed's return does not constitute a commitment by the Home Secretary that he may remain permanently in the U.K.,'' Miliband said Tuesday. ``His immigration status is being reviewed following his return. As always, the government's top priority is national security.''

British newspaper editorials offered mixed reactions to Mohamed's return.

The right-leading British tabloid The Sun called Mohamed a ''Fake Brit'' who was ``was flown in some style to a place he cannot truly describe as ``home.''

The left-leaning Guardian called on Britain to disclose what it knew about Mohamed's mistreatment. The 30-year-old alleges he was held in Morocco for 18 months and tortured there.

''His serious charges remain allegations, but there is good reason to take them seriously,'' The Guardian said its editorial. ``The lingering suspicion is that the fault goes well beyond one or two rogue (MI5) men, and up to the top where a decision was made not to ask awkward questions about the way in which George W. Bush's Washington was waging its self-proclaimed ``war on terror.'''

Britain's attorney general has opened an investigation into whether there was any criminal wrongdoing on behalf of Britain or the British security agent from MI5 who interrogated Mohamed before he was rendered to Morocco.

While Britain has acknowledged that Mohammed was sent to Morocco, the United States still refuses to account for the 18 months he says he was there.

Two British judges, meanwhile, are also considering whether to reopen a case into whether 42 secret US intelligence documents shared with Britain should be disclosed. The judges say the documents detail Mohamed's treatment.

''Further public disclosure of these documents remains a matter for the U.S. administration,'' said Miliband. ``In this regard, we welcome the U.S. attorney general's order to a review of all the assertions of the state secrets privilege in the U.S. Courts.''

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