Britain Arrests Freed Guantanamo Detainees
Tue Jan 25, 7:49 PM ET
By MICHAEL McDONOUGH, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - Four Britons who were freed after being detained for up to three years at the U.S. military camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, returned to Britain on Tuesday and were immediately arrested.
"Police arrested the men under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000 which refers to the alleged involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism," Metropolitan Police said.
The four men — the last of the British detainees at Guantanamo — were accompanied by British anti-terrorist officers on a military flight which landed at the Northolt Royal Air Force base, west of London just after 5 p.m. (noon EST).
Moazzam Begg, Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar were among some 550 prisoners from 42 countries swept up in the U.S.-led war on terrorism and detained without charge.
Abbasi, 24, reportedly was arrested by U.S. forces in northern Afghanistan (news - web sites) in December 2001. Belmar, 25, and Begg, 37, reportedly were arrested in Pakistan in February 2002, while Mubanga, 32, was detained in Zambia.
Police said they would be examined to ensure they were medically fit to be detained before being interviewed by anti-terrorist officers.
Each man would be allowed a phone call, access to a lawyer and a visit from a relative.
Peter Clarke, head of the Anti Terrorist Branch, said police had discussed the case with representatives of Britain's Muslim community and recognized there were strong feelings about it.
"But the fact is that we have an absolute duty on behalf of all communities to investigate the circumstances leading to the men's detention," Clarke said.
"Our inquiries are being carried out strictly in accordance with U.K. law and procedures. These have built-in safeguards and are subject to independent scrutiny. We are totally committed to ensuring that the men are treated properly and fairly," he said.
Four of five British men released from Guantanamo last year also were arrested on their return but were released within a day.
Some of the men claim they were tortured at Guantanamo, which holds detainees that U.S. authorities say are suspected of having links to al-Qaida or Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime.
The decision to release the four follows months of negotiations between Washington and London. Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites)'s government had argued that the men should face a trial which met international legal standards, or be released.
The Pentagon (news - web sites) said Tuesday that British authorities had given assurances "that the detainees will not pose a continuing security threat to the United States or its allies."
"The Department of Defense (news - web sites) has strong confidence in the U.K.'s commitment and ability to fulfill this responsibility," the statement said.
Four of the men have filed a lawsuit in a U.S. court seeking $10 million each in damages.
A British Muslim group welcomed the return of the last Britons held at Guantanamo.
"These returnees have been through an appallingly lengthy and unjust ordeal in which they were deliberately held in a legal black hole by the U.S. authorities," the Muslim Council of Britain said in a statement. "The priority now must be for these returnees to receive immediate counseling and medical help."
Moazzam Begg's father has expressed concern about his son's mental health because of his detention.
"He was kept in solitary confinement for about three years and sustained solitary confinement is not a joke, it is a big thing," Azmat Begg told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
His son had suffered "mental torture for three years and I don't know what that has done to him," he said. "Also, at the same time, I am happy my son is coming home."
Cremation for India crush victims
Grieving relatives are preparing to cremate around 300 Hindu pilgrims who died in a stampede at a religious festival in India on Tuesday.
The tragedy happened during a pilgrimage to the remote Mandhar Devi temple in western Maharashtra state.
Police say they believe the stampede was triggered by a fire which first engulfed some roadside stalls.
Rescue workers are still trying to collect the bodies of those who died and determine the exact death toll.
More corpses may be found in the wreckage of shops destroyed by the fire.
Also, around 100 people injured in the stampede are in a critical condition.
Many pilgrims were crushed and burned to death as the fire forced crowds into a narrow stairway leading to the hilltop temple.
The stampede occurred near the village of Wai, more than 200km (125 miles) south of Mumbai (Bombay), where pilgrims congregate every year at the temple to venerate a Hindu goddess.
This year more than 300,000 people had gathered, and the narrow path leading to the temple was jammed with worshippers, many of them women and children.
The funerals coincide with India's celebration of Republic Day, although festivities in Maharashtra were cancelled.
Frustration
The fire spread throughout the temple grounds, and was still burning in places on Tuesday night, although the main complex was safe.
It is still not clear what caused the fire, though it made have been the result of a short circuit.
Some witnesses said pilgrims began burning and looting roadside stalls after they became frustrated at long delays in gaining entry to the temple site.
The procession quickly became panicked and the steep narrow passage was jammed as crowds surged forward to avoid the flames.
A local police chief, V N Deshmukh, put the death toll at more than 300 and said that more than 200 were taken by bus to local hospitals, the AFP news agency reported.
Access to the temple was difficult, and it took police vehicles and ambulances several hours to reach the scene. As a result some of the injured later died.
Later on Tuesday, relatives arrived at hospitals to identify the bodies and take them home.
Difficult to police
Stampedes are not uncommon at Hindu religious festivals, which often attract millions of worshippers and are notoriously difficult to police.
The event at Wai takes place every year during the night of a full moon.
Pilgrims started arriving on Monday, ahead of the full moon on Tuesday night.
At least 39 people died in August 2003 when devotees panicked on the banks of a holy river 175km north-east of Bombay.
In 1999, 51 pilgrims died when a safety rope snapped at a Hindu shrine in southern India, and 50 were killed in 1986 in a stampede in the northern town of Haridwar.
In 1954, some 800 are thought to have died in the northern city of Allahabad - the worst such incident recorded.