Legal battle over suspect identity

15 Apr 2010

A legal battle has been launched in order to try and get the British Government to reveal the identity of a terrorist suspect who is being held in Afghanistan.

Human rights charity Reprieve said it believes the man is Yunus Rahmatullah.

The charity said he was captured by British troops in Iraq in February 2004 and handed to US forces.

It is thought Mr Rahmatullah and another suspect were then flow to Afghanistan, where they are being held at Bagram Air Base.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said it can not reveal the names of the suspects due to data protection laws.

But former shadow home secretary, and civil liberties campaigner, David Davis, said the Government is unwilling to name the suspects due to the potential for political embarrassment.

Mr Davis said: "If they are bad people, tell us who they are. I think the reason we are not being told is because it's politically embarrassing," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

On Thursday, an MoD spokesman said: "As the then Secretary of State made clear to Parliament in February 2009, the two individuals in question were insurgents captured in Baghdad as they posed an imperative threat to security of the Iraqi people and our Armed Forces. Their capture was legitimate and justified.

"We are prevented from disclosing their identity and, indeed, the identity of all other detainees, under the Data Protection Act."