Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan says he was forced to confess to passing nuclear secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran, a British newspaper reported Friday.
Khan was detained in 2004 after admitting to passing on nuclear technology to other countries and has been held under house arrest in Islamabad. But in an interview with The Guardian, Khan was quoted as saying he was forced into making the confession.
"It was not of my own free will. It was handed into my hand," Khan is quoted as telling the newspaper.
He did not deny that Pakistan had secretly passed nuclear technology to other nations. But he said he did not profit from the smuggling.
"I never sold anything and I never got any money. Nobody has proved this and nobody can prove it," he said.
Experts have said they suspect that Khan was persuaded to make the confession in order to conceal government involvement in the trafficking.
Though reviled in the West, Khan enjoys national hero status in Pakistan, where he is credited with making the country the world's only Islamic nuclear power.
He remains under de facto house arrest, though Pakistan's new government has suggested it will relax the restrictions on him. Khan could not be reached for comment Friday.
The Guardian interview quotes him as saying that he went along with the confession in the "national interest" of Pakistan and because he was promised freedom if he complied.
"I was hand-tied. I think it was a mistake. At that time things were not so clear and you couldn't see that people could go back on their words and renege their promises," he was quoted as saying.
Khan accused the West of double standards and suggested the United States had fabricated evidence against him, the paper reported.
He insisted he would not cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has sought to question him about his nuclear network.
"Why should I talk to them? I am under no obligation. We are not signatory to NPT (nuclear nonproliferation treaty). I have not violated any international laws. So why should I talk to them?" Khan said.
The Pakistani government has ruled out letting foreign investigators question Khan.
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