Binyam Muhammad, an Ethiopian, made his first appearance in the US military courtroom in Guantanamo Bay yesterday, charged with conspiring with American Jose Padilla to attack civilians and other crimes.

Muhammad told the judge he had been tortured. He criticised US authorities for getting his name wrong, claimed he was not the person they sought and suggested the court refer to him as Count Dracula.

"After four years of torture and rendition you have the wrong person in the stand," Muhammad said.
A written account of his capture provided by Clive Stafford Smith, Muhammad's civilian lawyer, details the detainee's allegations of torture while "directly or indirectly" in the custody of the United States. He alleges that he was sliced with a scalpel and given mind-altering drugs.
Alberto Gonzales, the US attorney general, said last month that the US did not transport terrorism suspects to nations where it is likely they could be tortured, a practice known as extraordinary rendition.

However, human rights groups say the US carries out extraordinary renditions in order to outsource torture. The American Civil Liberties Union has asked the United Nations to investigate the US participation in extraordinary rendition.

"Our government is violating the rule of law by engaging in secret abductions and torture," Steven Watt, an ACLU legal adviser, wrote to a UN body.

Muhammad is charged with conspiring with Abu Zubaydah, an al Qaeda commander, and Padilla to cause explosions at apartment buildings and filling stations in the US. He says he is innocent. Padilla, a suspect in a "dirty bomb" plot, is on trial in Miami on charges he provided material support to terrorists and conspired to murder Americans.–AP