U.K. resident held at Gitmo co-operated during interrogations: officer

A veteran U.S. military interrogator insists a British resident now held at Guantanamo co-operated in a terror probe after he was captured, according to an affidavit released Wednesday.

The interrogator also states in the affidavit that he never witnessed Binyam Mohamed, who is at the centre of an effort by Britain to have him freed from Guantanamo, being abused.

Mohamed has alleged he was flown by the United States to Morocco, where he was tortured after being captured in Pakistan in April 2002.

According to the affidavit, the senior U.S. army interrogator first encountered Mohamed on July 21, 2004, at a U.S. detention centre at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan after the alleged rendition to Morocco.

The interrogator described establishing a friendly relationship with Mohamed and said thecaptive identified suspects and provided detailed descriptions of abandoned terrorist training camps that helped U.S. investigators.

The interrogator's account is contained in a sworn statement filed in federal court in Washington. The name is redacted. The affidavit was provided to the Associated Press by the military and comes as the U.S. and Mohamed's legal team dispute what happened to him.

Despite ample findings, the administration of former president George W. Bush insisted it never engaged in so-called extraordinary rendition, in which suspects are handed over to countries that brutally interrogate prisoners. Mohamed's civilian and military lawyers allege he was tortured in Morocco, that the U.S. flew him there and that Americans oversaw the interrogations.

The 19-page sworn statement provides a rare look at tactics of a veteran interrogator who has conducted "hundreds, perhaps thousands, of interviews with suspects and witnesses."

"I greeted Mr. Mohamed with a traditional Islamic greeting and Mr. Mohamed reciprocated. I introduced myself using my real name and shook Mr. Mohamed's hand," the interrogator recalled of their first meeting. "At the conclusion of the interview, Mr. Mohamed agreed to continue his co-operation and to provide truthful information to me."

Torture allegations not addressed

But the sworn statement leaves blank the crucial 18 months that Mohamed alleges he washeld in Morocco and later at a CIA secret prison in Afghanistan before being taken to Bagram.

Mohamed was transferred in September 2004 to the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the supervisory special agent of the army's Criminal Investigation Division continued to meet with him. The interrogator said they developed such a close relationship that they were on a first-name basis and exchanged hugs.

Mohamed was accused of plotting al-Qaeda attacks in the United States, but war-crimes charges against him at Guantanamo were dropped last year.

Mohamed alleges, among other things, that he was lacerated and given mind-altering drugs during his rendition.

His torturers applied sleep deprivation, beat him and sliced Muhammad's penis with a scalpel, according to the detainee's account.

After 18 months in Morocco, Mohamed was flown to a CIA black site known as the "Dark Prison" in Afghanistan, where he was chained to railings and subjected to loud music in total darkness for weeks, his lawyers say.

Despite the apparent rapport the veteran interrogator developed with the detainee, Mohamed on Nov. 9, 2004, "began to express reservations and concerns about continuing to co-operate with the government," the interrogator said.

Their last meeting was a month later at Guantanamo, when the interrogator was deployed to Afghanistan.