Lord Hermer represented Guantanamo prisoner against MI5
The Attorney General represented a Guantanamo Bay prisoner who was an alleged associate of Osama bin Laden in a claim against MI5.
Lord Hermer tried to win compensation for accused terrorist Shaker Aamer, claiming British Secret Service officials were present during his torture by Americans at the high-security prison.
Representing him in 2009, Lord Hermer won a High Court ruling which allowed access to documents he said showed confessions made were obtained through torture.
The now 58-year-old, whose prison file claimed he was a 'close associate' of the al-Qaeda leader, is believed to have eventually received £1 million compensation from the British taxpayer in a scheme agreed by the Government in 2010 alongside other British detainees of Guantanamo
Mr Aamer was the last British detainee to be released from the Guantanamo detention camp in 2015, having served nearly 14 years without trial.
He has never been convicted of any crime.
American intelligence accused Mr Aamer of heading up a unit of bin Laden's fighters in Afghanistan and acting as a translator for the terrorists.
It is the latest in a string of disclosures about clients represented by Lord Hermer before he was appointed Attorney General by the Prime Minister.
Critics have suggested that his former clients raise conflicts of interest in his new role.
In 2009, Lord Hermer defended Abid Naseer, an Islamist terrorist who was convicted in the US of plotting to bomb a Manchester shopping centre and a New York subway station.
The former barrister described MI5's case against the terrorist as 'pitiful' and 'far-fetched'.
Naseer was never charged with terror offences in the UK – despite later being convicted in America.
Other former clients of Lord Hermer for whom he has sought compensation from the Government include Rangzieb Ahmed, an al-Qaeda chief linked to London's July 7 terror attacks, and Gerry Adams, the former leader of Sinn Fein, over compensation claims brought by IRA victims.
Following The Telegraph's reporting, Labour figures began to turn on Lord Hermer last weekend amid concerns over conflicts of interest.
It came after Labour peer Lord Glasman described the Attorney General as an 'arrogant, progressive fool' and called for him to quit, in signs of a deepening split within the party.
Sir Laurie Magnus, the Prime Minister's ethics tsar, has been urged to intervene.
Saudi-born Mr Aamer was allowed to remain in Britain after moving to London in 1996 and marrying a British woman.
Before Mr Aamer's release from Guantanamo, Lord Hermer won a 2009 High Court ruling which allowed the release of 'relevant documents' which 'may or may not' have contained evidence that confessions he made were obtained through torture.
Lord Hermer told a judge the UK Government had 'not done all it could' to secure Mr Aamer's release and alleged MI5 operatives were not just complicit, but present throughout his CIA torture.
He argued it was 'incorrect' for the British Government to claim it had done 'everything they possibly could' to secure Mr Aamer's release.
Mr Aamer – who was never charged with an offence or put on trial during his 13 years at Guantanamo Bay – has always maintained his innocence.
He claimed he was captured by Afghan villagers in 2001 while doing charity work there and was initially held at the Bagram air base.
He only confessed to being a jihadist to end his torture at the site, before he was transferred to the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in 2002, he alleged.
It was here, he said, that his head was repeatedly 'banged so hard against a wall that it bounced' while an MI5 officer was present.
Mr Aamer also alleged he was threatened with death during another interrogation at which a British officer was present.
Speaking outside the High Court after the ruling, Gareth Peirce, of solicitors Birnberg Peirce & Partners, which represented Mr Aamer in the UK, said the Government was 'complicit in appalling crimes, abuses and tortures'.
A spokesman for the Attorney General said: 'Law officers such as the Attorney General will naturally have an extensive legal background and may have previously been involved in a wide number of past cases. Barristers do not associate themselves with their clients' opinions.'
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'He had a massive problem with authority.' Around this time Dighton began posting racist on X – formerly Twitter – under the profile @VulkantheJust, an apparent reference to a Warhammer character. His profile has a blue tick awarded to users with a paid-for subscription, extending the reach of their posts. His bio reads: 'Dammed [sic] before Birth.' While his messages are only visible to followers, one user who responded branded him a 'little twit who thinks his failures are somehow the fault of 12 year old girls'. Neighbours believe a trigger for Dighton 'cracking' was a dispute with a man who lived in the area. They claim Dighton made allegations that the man had been smoking drugs but that police did not take any action. Dighton's anger grew and on July 29 last year he committed a public order offence against the man, later receiving a conditional discharge. His fixation on police intensified as he repeatedly complained they 'only see the things they want to see'. 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