Posted on 11/16/2003 1:23:04 PM PST by Prodigal Son
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The United States would free a Swede held at Guantanamo Bay if Sweden made sure he did not engage in terror activities, a Swedish newspaper reported on Sunday, quoting U.S. and Swedish government officials.
A Western diplomat told Reuters the report could signal a policy shift aimed at defusing criticism of President Bush's war on terror in the run up to his campaign for re-election next year.
Swedish foreign ministry spokesman Jan Janonius said negotiations about Mehdi-Muhammed Ghezali, a 24-year-old Swede held captive for almost two years at the U.S. military base in Cuba, were under way, but that Washington had not yet come up with any concrete proposal.
The daily Svenska Dagbladet quoted an unnamed senior U.S. official as saying Washington wanted to set in motion a process that would see Sweden take responsibility for Ghezali -- one of some 660 prisoners captured mostly during the war in Afghanistan and held without charge or access to lawyers.
The prisoners are suspected by the Pentagon of links to al Qaeda, which the United States holds responsible for the September 11, 2001 and other attacks.
Sweden believes the United States has no legal grounds to detain Ghezali.
"We have talked along those lines," Carl-Henrik Ehrenkrona, the Swedish foreign ministry's head of legal affairs, told Svenska Dagbladet.
Ghezali's father, a Muslim of Algerian origin, has repeatedly urged the Swedish government to do more to secure his son's release, saying he was in Pakistan to study Islam and had nothing to do with al Qaeda.
Spain, a supporter of the U.S. war on terror, criticized its ally last week for the open-ended detention of prisoners.
Britain has also complained about Britons held without trial at Guantanamo Bay. Bush, who visits Britain this week, told the BBC on Sunday: "I'm working closely with Tony (British Prime Minister Blair) to come up with a solution that he is comfortable with."
The diplomat told Reuters: "Also inside the United States there has been growing criticism about the Guantanamo Bay prisoners because they have been left outside any legal arrangements, international law or the prisoners of war Geneva convention. Definitely there is a need for them to get this thing over with and this is maybe the beginning of the process."
GRAIN OF SALT ALERT! GRAIN OF SALT ALERT!
After two years maybe, just maybe, some of them have proven not to be terrorist risks.
Or, at least, not such risks that we couldn't trust another country to hold them.
No, it can't be that LOL!
Yeah, right. Ghezali was hi-jacked and just sort of, somehow, ended up in Afghanistan - innocently. Keep the whole bunch at Gitmo until WE decide to do something with them. Who cares what pappa wants?
Look for Sharia law to be declared in this formerly wonderful country about 8 years after it happens in France.
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