U.S. sought ex-Guantanamo detainee's silence-court

By Luke Baker

LONDON, March 23 (Reuters) - U.S. government lawyers tried to get a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay to sign a deal saying he had never been tortured and that he would not speak to the media as a condition of his release, according to documents presented in Britain's High Court.

U.S. lawyers also wanted Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen held at Guantanamo for more than 4 years, to plead guilty to secure his freedom, even though he was never charged with a crime, according to documents released by two judges who ruled in the High Court case.

The documents, relating to a ruling the judges made last October, reveal the U.S. military wanted Mohamed to agree not to sue the United States or any of its allies, and that any rights to compensation should be assigned to the U.S. government.

"The accused agrees not to participate in or support in any manner any litigation or challenge, in any forum, against the United States or any other nation or any official of any nation, whether military or civilian..." a draft plea agreement put forward by U.S. government lawyers in 2008 stated.

"The accused assigns to the United States all legal rights to sign and submit any necessary documents, motions or pleadings to implement this provision on behalf of the accused," a key clause in the agreement read.

The proposed agreement was contained in documents brought before the High Court in October, when the court ruled that documents relating to Mohamed's case could not be released because it might jeopardise national security agreements between Britain and the United States.

Mohamed's lawyers rejected the agreement and Mohamed was eventually released last month with almost no conditions.

The British government is understood to have opposed the conditions and helped fight them until they were dropped.