LONDON -- A British court ordered Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday to disclose secret documents that could prove critical to the defense of a Guantánamo Bay detainee who claims he was tortured while in U.S. custody on terrorism charges.

Miliband now has a week to decide whether to comply with the order to release of the documents pertaining to Binyam Mohamed's detention. The British government has argued the release of the documents could compromise national security, and it could appeal the court order.

The High Court made the ruling in the case of Mohamed, who was captured in Pakistan in April 2002 and accused of conspiring with al Qaeda leaders to attack civilians. His lawyers say the British government is withholding information about his treatment in U.S. custody which is critical to his hope of receiving a fair trial.

Mohamed, an Ethiopian refugee who moved to Britain when he was 15, is among 21 detainees selected for trial at Guantánamo. He has not yet been formally charged.

A Pentagon appointee is reviewing the case being brought by U.S. military prosecutors to decide whether to go forward.

''The information held by the foreign secretary is not merely necessary, but essential, if Binyam Mohamed is to have his case fairly considered,'' Judge John Thomas wrote in the 75-page judgment.

Mohamed claims he was transferred illegally from Pakistan to Morocco after his arrest and alleges he was tortured during his 18 months in detention. Neither the United States nor Britain has disclosed any information about his time in custody before he arrived at Guantánamo Bay in 2004.

His lawyers have argued any evidence the U.S. has for holding Mohamed, a British resident, came through ''medieval'' torture in Morocco.

According to Mohamed's account, filed with the U.S. Supreme Court , torturers sliced his penis with a scalpel and threatened to sever his private parts. Mohamed claims he was beaten, deprived of sleep and given mind-altering drugs.

The crux of Mohamed's High Court case was that the British government knew of his detention but failed to ensure he was treated fairly. The court sided squarely with Mohamed's attorneys and ruled he had a right to any information Britain might have on his case.

''We believe there will be information helping to corroborate Binyan Mohamed's story,'' said Richard Stein, one of Mohamed's attorneys. "He says it was during this time that he was tortured and this will obviously affect his case.''

The lawyers hope to prove Mohamed was detained and interrogated under conditions that constitute torture and would therefore not be admissible at his military war crimes trial in Guantánamo.

At the military tribunals, judges can allow ''coerced'' evidence, if they rule it is reliable and did not rise to the level of torture. The judge in the first war crimes trial in July threw out some interrogations after ruling they were conducted under ''highly coercive'' conditions.

It is unclear how the tribunal will deal with evidence obtained during interrogations in third countries.

Prosecutors have prepared charges against Mohamed, but they must be approved by Susan Crawford, a U.S. Defense Department official who oversees the military commissions. The Pentagon said Crawford was still reviewing the charges and information provided by the defense.

The first Guantánamo trial ended earlier this month with the conviction of Salim Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden who was sentenced to 5 and ½ years in prison for supporting terrorism. The military plans trials for about 80 of the roughly 265 Guantánamo prisoners.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Cynthia O. Smith, declined to speak about the high court decision, saying it would be "inappropriate to comment about another country's court rulings.''

She added that the U.S. does not condone torture and did not transfer detainees to countries where it believes they are ''more likely than not'' to be tortured. She refused to say whether Mohamed was ever taken to Morocco or, if so, whether he was American custody at the time.

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