Another Guantanamo "conspirator" appears in "Court"

Binyam Muhammad (a/k/a/ Talha a1 Kini, a/k/a Foaud Zouaoui, a/k/a/ Taha a1 Nigeri a/k/a John Samuel) one of ten Guantanamo Bay prisoners to be charged is represented by Clive Stafford Smith who acts for more than 30 other Guantanamo detainees as the legal director of Reprieve, a British human rights organization..Charge Sheet here PDF Alert - which involves charges of conspiracy.

According to a written account read by Smith, Muhammad was born in Ethiopia, and moved to Britain when he was 15. Three siblings went to the United States and eventually became naturalized citizens. He claimed that as a practicing Muslim he went to Afghanistan to kick a drug habit, and thought he could do so if he got away from London.He called the charges a "con" and claimed they still couldn't spell his name correctly.

He also wanted to see the Taliban Islamic regime in Afghanistan with his own eyes, he said. (It was whilst he was in Afghanistan it is claimed he attended a1 Qaida's a1 Farouq training camp, where he received training in light weapons such as the Kalishnikov, Simonov, PKA, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and crew-served weapons and also met Usama-bin-Laden who told the group "something big is going to happen in the future" and to "get ready" or words to that effect..it is also claimed when he was being trained in Kabul he met "shoe bomber" Richard Reid.(!!)

He was captured in April 2002 in Karachi, Pakistan, whilst returning to London. The circumstances of which are odd. On or about April 4,2002, Binyam Muhammad and Jose Padilla (who were alleged to be plotting to make a "dirty bomb" and had been given US$16,000 to get to the US and undertake the task) were both detained at passport control at the airport in Karachi (Binyam Muhammad for a forged passport and Jose Padilla due to visa violations),but were released the next morning. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad arranged to get Binyam Muhammad a different forged passport while Jose Padilla continued on to Chicago, Illinois. On or about April 10,2002, Binyarn (sic) Muhammad was arrested at an airport in Karachi, Pakistan attempting to get back to London using a forged passport.

Three months later, he was transferred by the United States to Morocco.Muhammad said he landed at an airfield he believed was near Rabat, the Moroccan capital, and was driven for about a half-hour before being taken into a house behind a metal fence. An English-speaking woman who claimed to be Canadian but he thought was American, calling herself Sarah was often present when he was interrogated.

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

"They cut all over my private parts. One of them said it would be better just to cut it off, as I would only breed terrorists," Smith quoted Muhammad as saying.

Muhammad said that while he was handcuffed, his jailers put headphones on him.

"They played hip-hop and rock music, very loud," Muhammad said. "I remember they played Meatloaf and Aerosmith over and over. I hated that. They also played Tupac. ... When I became a Muslim, I had tried to get away from this.

In January 2004 Muhammad was sent back to Afghanistan, held in a CIA Kabul jail for five months and, in May 2004, moved to Bagram Air Base north of Kabul. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in September 2004.

The United States alleges Muhammad conspired with Abu Zubaydah, an al-Qaida commander, and Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen, to cause explosions at apartment buildings and gas stations in the United States. Muhammad has denied knowing Padilla and says he is innocent.

During his incarceration at Bagram last year, Muhammad claimed, he was forced to sign a false confession he did not write.

"The story was something like this: First, Jose Padilla and I were meant to have good connections, because we both spoke English. We were meant to have been hanging out together," Muhammad said, according to Smith's notes of their meeting. "By the time I was in Bagram, I was telling them whatever they wanted to hear."

Stafford Smith said. "I would like some answers from the U.S. as to where they got this evidence, because I am confident we will find all this evidence was exacted at the tip of a razor blade."