STOCKHOLM, July 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The Swedish government will ask the US government to investigate alleged US abuse of a Swedish national detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but released a week ago,Swedish Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds said Wednesday.

    Mehdi Ghezali, who returned home last week after more than two years in US custody, told Swedish media that he was tortured during his detention at Guantanamo.

    Ghezali said his hands and legs were chained together and he was exposed to freezing cold. He also said he was kept from sleeping and sexually insulted.

    Freivalds said the torture Ghezali suffered, if true, was prohibited by international law and was unacceptable, and the government will demand the US government start a probe into the alleged torture claims.

    Sweden will protest to the United States against long-term detention of prisoners without legal procedures and at the same time also against its inhumane treatment of detainees, Freivalds said.

    Ghezali was transferred to the US military in late 2001 after being arrested in Pakistan by police. During his detention at Guantanamo, Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson and other Swedish leaders had pressed for his release.

    The US Defense Department, considering Ghezali of no value for intelligence and no longer a threat to the United States, released him last Thursday from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay. Enditem