Guardian reporter Vikram Dodd reports on a British man currently held in Guantanamo Bay because of an alleged association with the militant Palestinian cleric Abu Qatada. Mr Qatada is accused of being a key recruiter of mujahedeen for al-Qaeda, and is currently the subject of a British government control order. The information is taken from documents of hearings conducted at Guantanamo last year, which have been made partially available. Key sections are apparently still classified.

The man named in the article as Bisher al-Rawi, claims that MI5 urged him to remain in association with Mr Qatada so that he could inform upon him. He also says, that MI5 reassured him that he would not get into trouble for doing this. He alleges that MI5 knew of Mr Qatada's location when he was supposedly in hiding, because he himself had told them, and also that he acted as a "go-between" between the cleric and MI5 when the authorities were saying they did not know where he was.

Comment

Whilst I can't even begin to ascertain the real truth of this story, several things are apparent. Firstly a man is imprisoned, charged with a crime he claims he was assured by MI5 that he would not be charged with. Secondly the Home Office who is responsible for his imprisonment, has nothing to say on the matter. They state that Mr Rawi is an Iraqi citizen, despite the fact that he has resided in the UK for many years, and that his family are British citizens. Therefore no action is apparently needed to ascertain the truth of this man's claim.

Is this another matter upon which we the people are not required to have a point of view? Is it still valid to in any way question the administration of Justice in this country? Of course, we are free to question whatever we like, but nonetheless policy will be enforced. We are to rest easy, and trust in the wisdom of our humble ministerial servants, and the discretion of the intelligence community they work with.

It seems a strange 'war on terror' to me, when Mr Rawi is currently imprisoned in the hell of Guantanamo, whilst Mr Qatada is merely the subject of a control order. If the original object of the governments intelligence operation was to capture Mr Qatada, why is the man who claims he helped the government to do that, currently the one with the lesser degree of liberty?