5 Guantanamo Britons returning to UK

icNewcastle ^ | Februari 19 2004

[knighthawk]

Five of the nine Britons held by the Americans at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba are to be returned to the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced.

The breakthrough follows months of wrangling between London and Washington over how to deal with the detainees who were held over suspected terrorist links in the wake of the invasion of Afghanistan.

In a statement to reporters at the Foreign Office, Mr Straw said in discussions with the Americans the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, had rejected US proposals to try them by US military tribunals.

And he said the Government was still pressing for the United States either to put the remaining four men on trial "in accordance with international standards" or return them to Britain.

The five to be released will fly home to their families within "the next few weeks", Mr Straw said.

He said they could still face arrest by British police on their return under the Terrorism 2000 Act for questioning in connection with possible terrorist activity.

However Home Secretary David Blunkett indicated that the British authorities did not regard them as a terrorist threat.

"I think you will find that no-one who is returned in the announcement will actually be a threat to the security of the British people," he told reporters at Westminster.

Mr Straw made clear Britain did not regard trial by the US military commissions set up by President George Bush as satisfactory.

The returning five are: Rhuhel Ahmed, 23, a student from Tipton, West Midlands; Asif Iqbal, 20, a parcel depot worker from Tipton; Shafiq Rasul, 25; Tarek Dergoul, 24, a former care worker for the elderly in east London; Jamal Al Harith, also known as Jamal Udeen, 35, from Manchester.

[knighthawk]

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