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| Guantanamo Bay Travel Agency - A Joint US And UK Project |
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04/11/2003
More information has surfaced in the last few days regarding the arrest of Briton Tariq Mahmud in Islamabad, Pakistan
Tariq Mahmud, a dual Pakistani and British Citizen, was arrested on 20 October 2003 in a joint Pakistani/US/UK operation.
Sources have revealed that a friend of Mr Mahmud was travelling to Pakistan via Saudi Arabia in order to meet his relatives. He was traced by British MI6 Agents throughout his journey, who provided information on him to the Saudi authorities, who kept him under observation in Saudi Arabia.
A few days after his arrival in Pakistan, when Mr Mahmud's friend made contact with him, they were both arrested, hooded, cuffed and taken to an undisclosed destination.
Mr Mahmud's friend was released a few days later, but Mr Mahmud himself was detained.
During his detention, Mr Mahmud's friend remained hooded and bound. He was interrogated by Pakistani ISI, American CIA and British MI6 officers, due to their accents.
The British MI6 officers threatened him with death if he did not cooperate with them. A few days later he was released and sent back to Britain, where he was questioned again by MI5 officers upon his arrival into the country.
The information above suggests further evidence that British authorities are playing a double-face with regards to Guantanamo Bay. On the one hand, they pretend to be making genuine efforts for British citizens detained in the 'War Against Terror' campaign, such as when the Foreign Office told Aljazeera.net when asked about Tariq Mahmud: "Our consular staff in Islamabad are making enquiries with Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs."
On the other hand, British Intelligence officers are actively participating in the surveillance, detention, torture, interrogation, intimidation and threatening with death of British citizens. They have also made several visits to Guantanamo Bay to interrogate British citizens there and continue to do so, according to the families of some of the British detainees.
There is therefore no doubt that the journey of most, if not all of the British detainees at Guantanamo Bay begins with an appointment at the Guantanamo Bay Travel Agency staffed by American and British Intelligence agents.
Analysts suggest that the British Government would retain its integrity by actually admitting that it is actively pursuing British citizens abroad in order to send them to Guantanamo Bay, rather than 'trying their best to get access to the British detainees by making formal requests to the American authorities'.
Source: Aljazeera and other agencies
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