10 June 2009

Our ref: 0381-09

Main Building

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

King Charles Street

E-mail: [email address]

Via e-mail:

[FOI #11825 email]

Dear Mr. Bimmler,

Your Freedom of Information Request 0381-09

Thank you for your recent Freedom of Information Request that asked for:

“all records you hold with relevance to the Attorney-General's preliminary investigation into the "Binyam Mohammed" case, specifically the Foreign Secretary's Public Interest Immunity certificates.”

I can confirm that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office does hold information falling within the terms of your request.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly, and in any case no later than 20

working days after receiving your request. However, when a qualified exemption applies to

the information and the public interest test is engaged, the Act allows the time for the response to take longer than 20 working days, and a full response must be provided within such time as is reasonable in all circumstances of the case. We do, of course, aim to make all decisions within 20 working days, including in cases where we need to consider where the public interest lies in respect of a request for exempt information. In this case, however, we have not yet reached a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies.

In your case we estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days to take a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies. Therefore, we plan to let you have a response by 8 July 2009, and if at all possible before then.

The specific exemption which applies in relation to your request is:

Section 31: Law Enforcement

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to

make a complaint or request an review of our decision, you should write to The Information Rights Team at; The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Old Admiralty Building, Room SG/120, London SW1A 2PA, (or e-mail [email address]). Please note any request for an internal review must be submitted within 40 working days from the date our response was issued.

If you are not content with the outcome your complaint, you may apply directly to the

Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless

you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by The Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Please contact me if you have any queries about this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Prosser

Counter Terrorism Department

Data Protection Act 1998

We keep and use information in line with the Data Protection Act 1998. We may release this personal information to other UK government departments and public authorities.

Foreign &

Commonwealth

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