US Accuses Briton of Being Suicide Bomber
The Sunday Times [UK] ^ | November 21, 2004 | Dipesh Gadher and Joe Lauria
Posted on 11/20/2004 8:24:37 PM PST by quidnunc
Tony Blair is facing new controversy over his efforts to secure the release of the Britons held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba after America accused one of the detainees of being an Al-Qaeda terrorist who volunteered for a suicide mission.
American court papers revealed for the first time this weekend say that Feroz Abbasi, a college dropout, had received advanced military training at terror camps in Afghanistan and was present on at least two occasions when Osama Bin Laden visited.
Abbasi, 24, from Croydon, south London, is alleged to have met other senior Al-Qaeda figures and fought with a crack unit of Islamic terrorists during the Afghan conflict with America and its allies. The revelations — the most detailed account to date of the US case against any of the four Britons at Guantanamo Bay — are likely to leave Blair with a diplomatic dilemma.
Less than a fortnight ago the prime minister raised the plight of the Britons with George W Bush during a trip to Washington. Blair is believed to have asked for the prisoners to be returned to Britain unless they could be guaranteed a fair trial. His wife Cherie recently criticised the lack of legal rights afforded to prisoners at Camp Delta. However, the serious nature of the American allegations against Abbasi — and the security concerns they raise if he were to be freed — could wreck a potential deal.
The new documents obtained by The Sunday Times have been filed in a district court in Washington DC where lawyers acting for Abbasi and the three other British prisoners are challenging their detention.
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(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...