Fugitive terror suspect suing Britain over torture claim

Somali-born terror suspect who escaped the surveillance of British authorities by donning a burqa is suing the government for alleged torture before he fled.

LONDON // A Somali-born terror suspect who escaped the surveillance of British authorities by donning a burqa was suing the government for alleged torture before he fled, it emerged yesterday.

Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed cut off his electronic tag and slipped out of a London mosque wearing the garment last Friday.

Mr Mohamed, who is believed to have fought for Al Shabab, is seeking damages from the government over claims he was tortured in Somaliland in 2011, London’s High Court heard.

He and another man, referred to as CF, allege that British authorities were complicit in their torture by authorities in Somaliland, a breakaway region to the north of Somalia.

Mr Mohamed, 27, was referred to in court papers only as MA but his anonymity was lifted following his disappearance.

The suspect, who was subject to an order restricting his movements, is not believed to pose a “direct threat” to Britain, interior minister Theresa May said.

But he is understood to have links to the Somali militant group Al Shabab, which launched the attack on a Nairobi shopping mall in September in which at least 67 people were killed.

Mr Mohamed is believed to have attended a training camp in 2008 and to have helped people travel to Britain from Somalia to allow them to engage in terror-related activity.

He is also thought to have procured weapons for terror use.

Mr Mohamed was under a Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIM) notice, which was imposed primarily to prevent overseas travel.

Antiterror police are still searching for him.

He is the second person to breach such an order since David Cameron’s government introduced them to replace control orders in early 2012.

Another suspect, Ibrahim Magag, tore off his electronic tag and vanished in a taxi last December. He has not been seen since.

* Agence France-Presse