High Court: Yunus Rahmatullah Can Sue UK and US for 'Decade of Torture at Bagram Airfield'

A High Court judge has paved the way for a man who claims he was detained and tortured by British and American troops at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan to sue the respective governments.

Yunus Rahmatullah was held for 10 years without charge after he was captured by British troops at a house on the outskirts of Baghdad in 2004.

He was transferred from British to US custody when he was allegedly detained at Bagram Airfield, dubbed the "Guantánamo Bay of Afghanistan".

He was released by the US without charge in May but could now sue for damages after Justice Leggatt dismissed the UK government's claim that its relations with the US would be hampered if Pakistani-national Rahmatullah was allowed to sue.

The Ministry of Defence said the department should not be hauled in front of a judge because it claims the alleged behaviour was also conducted by the US.

Ramatullah's lawyer, Sapna Malik, said: "It is now high time for the British government to abandon its attempts to evade judicial scrutiny of its conduct in operations involving the US in Iraq and Afghanistan."

The ruling comes after Libyan couple Abdel Hakim Belhaj and Fatima Bouchar convinced the High Court that a rendition case against former foreign secretary Jack Straw and MI6 should be heard at a British court.