[JURIST] Released Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Binyam Mohamed [BBC profile, JURIST news archive] was returned to the UK on Monday after being held for nearly seven years. Mohamed had immigrated from Ethiopia to the UK prior to his arrest, and it is not yet known whether he will be permitted to remain [BBC report] in the country, whose government he has repeatedly accused [Guardian report] of being involved in his alleged torture. Mohamed recently ended a hunger strike, and British authorities declared him healthy enough to travel [JURIST report] last week. The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) [official website] said that his return comes in response to a longstanding request for the return of UK residents held at Guantanamo.
Mohamed was arrested and sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2004 on suspicion of war crimes in connection with his alleged involvement with al Qaeda attacks on the US. The charges against him were dismissed [JURIST report] last October. Mohamed asserts that after he was arrested in Pakistan and turned over to US officials, he was then transferred to Moroccan agents who tortured him. In December, he asked the UK government [JURIST report] to ensure that photographic evidence of his alleged torture be preserved.