UK agrees to pay ‘substantial sum’ to settle lawsuit by Guantanamo detainee over torture claims

British intelligence agencies have reached a confidential settlement with Guantanamo Bay detainee Abu Zubaydah, agreeing to pay what his attorney describes as a “substantial sum” to resolve claims of UK complicity in his torture at CIA black sites, according to an announcement Monday.

Zubaydah, a Palestinian born in Saudi Arabia, was captured in Pakistan in 2002 following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when US intelligence officials suspected him of being a high-ranking al-Qaida operative. He was subsequently transferred between secret CIA interrogation facilities before being moved to the Guantanamo Bay detention center in 2006, where he remains imprisoned without formal charges.

Attorney Helen Duffy, representing Zubaydah, characterized the settlement as both symbolically and practically significant, citing the “intolerable suffering” her client endured. She called on the British government to advocate for the immediate release of Zubaydah and others who remain detained without charge more than two decades after the 9/11 attacks.

“This case is deeply relevant today, as some states ride roughshod over international law, and the world looks to others to respond,” Duffy said in a statement. “There are critical lessons about the cost of cooperating with the U.S. or other allies flouting international norms.”

The UK Foreign Office has declined to comment on the settlement, maintaining its standard policy of neither confirming nor denying intelligence matters.

According to a 2018 investigation by a British parliamentary committee, UK intelligence services were aware Zubaydah was being tortured but continued providing questions for CIA interrogators without seeking assurances about his treatment or condition. This revelation formed a central component of Zubaydah’s legal case against the British government.

Zubaydah’s treatment became one of the most notorious examples of post-9/11 interrogation tactics. He was the first person subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program, which a 2014 US Senate report later characterized as torture. According to this report, Zubaydah was waterboarded more than 80 times in a single month and confined for 11 days in a coffin-sized box, among other severe forms of mistreatment.

The European Court of Human Rights has determined that Zubaydah was held at CIA black sites in Poland and Lithuania, countries that have faced their own legal repercussions for hosting these facilities. These secret detention centers operated outside normal legal frameworks, enabling interrogation techniques prohibited under international law.

Dominic Grieve, a former UK lawmaker who chaired the parliamentary inquiry into detainee mistreatment, told the BBC that the settlement was highly unusual but justified given the clear violations of Zubaydah’s rights.

“Americans were behaving in a way that should have given us cause for real concern,” Grieve said. “We should have raised it with the United States and, if necessary, closed down cooperation, but we failed to do that for a considerable period of time.”

Zubaydah’s legal situation remains unresolved. Despite more than 20 years in US custody, he has never been charged with a crime or convicted in any court. He continues to be held at Guantanamo Bay as a purported security risk in what human rights advocates describe as an indefinite legal limbo.

In 2022, Zubaydah suffered another legal setback when the US Supreme Court dismissed his lawsuit seeking testimony from former CIA contractors about his treatment in Poland. The Court rejected his case on grounds that proceeding would expose state secrets, despite much of the information having been widely reported in media and government investigations.

The settlement with British authorities represents a rare acknowledgment of governmental responsibility in the post-9/11 counterterrorism operations that have faced increasing scrutiny for human rights violations.