BRITAIN 'BLACKMAILED' TO KEEP TORTURE QUIET; Obama accused in U.S cover-up plot.

Byline: BY JASON BEATIE

MPs blasted the government yesterday for letting the US "blackmail" it into a torture cover-up.

It was also alleged British intelligence was involved in the torture of a UK resident later taken to Guantanamo.

Two high court judges in London were asked to rule if papers relating to Binyam Mohamed should be made public.

In an astonishing decision they said they would not order the documents' release because the US had asked for them to be kept secret. And the Americans threatened to stop sharing intelligence with Britain if the wish was ignored.

The ruling sparked fury in Westminster with opposition MPs saying the Government had been blackmailed into hushing up the case of Mohamed, who is held in the unit at Guantanamo Bay.

Former shadow home secretary David Davis said: "The ruling implies torture has taken place, that British agencies may have been complicit and that the US government has threatened our highcourts if it releases this information." He demanded a Commons statement from the Government.

Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said the Foreign Office warned them if the US withheld intelligence Britain faced a "very considerable increase" in terrorist threats.

The judges said lawyers for Foreign Secretary David Miliband told them the threat to withdraw co-operation remained under the new President Barack Obama.

They also disclosed a British intelligence official may have been present and supplied questions to the US captors who Mohamed, 31, says tortured him.

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said: "There is no other term for what US intelligence services are doing than blackmail. Gordon Brown must publish all documents about this case."

Liberty's Shami Chakrabarti said: "The Foreign Office has claimed the Obama administration maintained a previous US threat to reconsider intelligence-sharing unless our judges kept this shameful skeleton in the closet. This allegation about the new presidency must be substantiated."

A No10 spokesman said: "We have not engaged with the new US administration on the detail of this case. Our policy is clear. We condemn any use of torture."

CAPTION(S):

CONDEMNED The US army prison camp at Guantanamo Bay; POLICY Barack Obama speaks at the White House yesterday; HELD Mohamed; DEMAND Davies