LONDON, Dec 13: The solitary confinement of a British detainee at the US base at Guantanamo Bay is slowly driving him mad, his father warned on Monday.

Azmat Beg told BBC radio that his son Moazzam, who claims that he has been tortured by his US captors, was being driven insane by his detention in solitary confinement.

"From what I gather from different sources, it looks that he is deteriorating very badly and things are going badly physically and mentally," Mr Beg said. "I don't know how a person can stay in solitary confinement for such a long time and remain normal.

"Why do they want him to go mental? Is it because he has seen a lot of cruelty and a lot of irregularities and violations of human rights? That is possibly why he is kept aside, so he doesn't talk about what he has seen to the other prisoners," Mr Beg told the British broadcaster.

He said that by the time his son's case reached the courts he would be unfit to defend himself. "By that time, mentally he will be finished. He won't be able to say anything. He will be a cabbage," Mr Beg said. Moazzam Beg, 36, was arrested in Pakistan in February 2002 and was among nine Britons known to have been detained at Guantanamo Bay. -AFP