Amnesty International has condemned the trial in Iraq of a 70-year-old British man who has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after a hearing that lasted only 15 minutes.

Ramze Shihab Ahmed, a 70-year-old dual Iraqi-UK national, who has lived in the UK since 2002, was sentenced by a court in Baghdad on 20 June after being found guilty of "funding terrorist groups." Amnesty has obtained and examined court documents and believes the trial proceedings were "grossly unfair," the group said in a statement Monday.

At his trial, the ninth in a series of trials (he had been acquitted in each of the earlier ones), Ahmed's lawyer was not given the opportunity to challenge the prosecution's case, or to cross-examine prosecution witnesses or call his own witnesses.

The court also failed to exclude from the proceedings a "confession" of Ahmed's, despite longstanding allegations that this was extracted under torture.

The court relied on information provided by a secret informant, with Ahmed's lawyer denied an opportunity to challenge this information.

In addition, statements - also allegedly extracted from an individual under torture and other ill-treatment - were considered in the trial proceedings.

Earlier this month, UK Foreign Secretary William Hague raised Ahmed's case with his counterpart, the Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, while the latter was on a trip to London.

Amnesty has been running a campaign for justice for Ahmed.