Al-Qaida terrorist's appeal argues that Britain was complicit in his torture

Rangzieb Ahmed alleges that a Pakistani intelligence agency interrogated him supplied with questions by Manchester police

• Ian Cobain
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 November 2010 08.00 GMT
• Article history

Rangzieb Ahmed, a convicted al-Qaida member, at Heathrow Airport, London, after his return from Pakistan in Sepember 2007. Photograph: Dennis Stone / Rex Features

A man convicted of serious terrorism offences is to launch an appeal against his conviction today on the grounds that the British government was complicit in the torture he suffered before being put on trial.

Rangzieb Ahmed, 35, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, was convicted two years ago of directing a terrorist organisation and membership of al-Qaida. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

He was convicted largely on the basis of evidence that was collected while he was under surveillance in Dubai and the UK in 2005. He was not arrested at that time, however; instead, he was permitted to travel to Pakistan where he was detained by an intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence, notorious for its use of torture.

The courts have heard that Manchester police and MI5 officers then drew up a list of questions to be put to Ahmed by the Pakistani agents. By the time he was deported to the UK, three fingernails were missing from his left hand. Ahmed also alleges he was beaten, whipped and deprived of sleep.

Tory MP David Davis told the Commons last year that a British intelligence officer had suggested to the Pakistani authorities that Ahmed be detained, knowing that this amounted to suggesting he be tortured. "The authorities know full well that this story is an evidential showcase for the policy of complicity in torture, should that evidence ever come out," Davis said.

Joel Bennathan QC, for Ahmed, told the court during a preliminary hearing that one of the grounds for appeal related to allegations of complicity in torture. "It is submitted that the UK – agents of the UK – were complicit in the mistreatment and the torture of Rangzieb Ahmed by the Inter Services Intelligence services in Pakistan," he said.

Details of the MI5, MI6 and police operation that led to Ahmed's detention and interrogation in Pakistan were largely heard in camera before his trial: the public and the media were excluded from the courtroom. The Crown Prosecution Service has denied that the court room secrecy concealed from the public evidence of official wrongdoing, but it has repeatedly failed to explain why it applied for the hearing to be in camera.

The Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Times, The Independent, the BBC and BSkyB have asked the appeal court to distinguish between evidence which is damaging to the national interest, and that which is simply embarrassing, and to hear as much of this week's appeal in open court as possible.

Much of the preliminary proceedings have been heard in secret despite the media organisations' submissions, however, and it remains unclear how much of the appeal will be open to the public.