Vanessa Redgrave helps Guantanamo suspects (provides bail money, calls Gitmo "Concentration camp")

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | December 20, 2007 | Philip Johnston

[Stoat]

Vanessa Redgrave helps Guantanamo suspects

By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor
 

Last Updated: 7:55pm GMT 20/12/2007

 

 

Two suspected al-Qa’eda operatives released from Guantanamo Bay have walked free from court although they are still wanted in Spain on terrorism-related offences.

• Profile: Vanessa Redgrave, human rights campaigner
• Profiles: The Guantanamo four
• Philip Johnston: Why should Guantanamo detainees return?

  One of the men, who is accused of distributing extremist propaganda produced by Osama bin Laden, had half of his £50,000 bail surety met by the actress Vanessa Redgrave.

  	Redgrave met half of Jamil el-Banna's bail

  Jamil el-Banna, 45, who was said during a brief court hearing to have helped run a cell called the Islamic Alliance, recruiting people to fight jihad in Afghanistan and Indonesia, returned to his London home tonight.
  
  The other man, Omar Deghayes, 38, a Libyan national freed from Guantanamo and allowed into the UK because he once lived here, is said to have had links to the same al-Qa’eda cell. He was also released on bail.
  
  Spain issued European arrest warrants for both men within hours of their arrival in Britain last night from the Cuban detention centre. Miss Redgrave said: “It is a profound honour and I am glad to be alive to be able to do this.’’
  
  She added: “Guantanamo Bay is a concentration camp. It is a disgrace that these men have been kept there all these years.”
  
  But the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard of their alleged links to al-Qa’eda, which raised fresh questions over why the British government interceded on their behalf to allow their return here from Guantanamo.
  
  Although the men have been resident in the UK and have family here, they are not British citizens.
  
  Previously, the Government has said it owed them no legal obligations.

  Melanie Cumberland, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Mr el Banna was a Pakistani who had first come to Britain in 1994 on a false Kuwaiti passport.

  
  From left: Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes, Abdennour Sameur. Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, who was also released from Guantanamo, was returned to his native Saudi Arabia

  He requested asylum and was eventually granted indefinite leave to remain.

  Miss Cumberland said that after settling in Britain he went to Spain between June 1996 and July 2001, where he helped run an al-Qa’eda cell.

  “The cell sent funds to Afghanistan to finance the aims of the organisation, sometimes using human carriers or other means,” she said.

  If he were extradited, she added, he could receive a jail term of up to 15 years.

  Mr el-Banna was captured shortly after 9/11 by American agents in Gambia, where he said he was setting up a peanut oil factory.

  They said he was a fund-raiser for Osama bin Laden.

  Edward Fitzgerald, defending, said there was “not a shred of evidence” against Mr el-Banna.

  He said: “It simply cannot be said that this is someone who is a danger or was associated with a dangerous organisation.’’

  He claimed Spain’s allegation was “unsubstantiated, unevidenced and unsupported”.

  	Supporters of Jamil el-Banna protest outside court

  Proceedings were relayed to him through a translator and he was bailed to return to court on Jan 8.

  He is subject to a curfew, must live at his home in Dollis Hill, London and has been electronically tagged.

  As he left court, Mr el-Banna, who has been flanked by two officers during his appearance, said: “Thank you very much everybody, my solicitor, the British people, the British Government for your help.

  “I’m tired. I want to go home and see my children.”

  Campaigners for Mr el-Banna’s release accused the British authorities of lying about what would happen when he returned to the UK.

  Sarah Teather, Liberal Democrat MP, said: “He was hoping to meet his wife under very different circumstances.

  “The family have just been on a rollercoaster ride. He’s aged a great deal but his eyes are still bright and the lawyers say his spirit is still strong.”

  The likelihood is that both men will end up being tried in Spain.

  Extradition under a fast-track European warrant is meant to be a formality.

  Abdennour Samuer, 34, a third British resident also released from Guantanamo Bay on Wednesday night, was released without charge after being questioned by police.

  He is an Algerian army deserter who came to Britain in 1999 and was granted refugee status.

  He was captured by American troops in Afghanistan, where he said he had gone because he found it hard to live as a good Muslim in Britain.

  Campaigners for the men, held in Guantanamo for almost five years, say they are innocent individuals kidnapped and tortured by the Americans.

[Stoat]

Related article:

Guantanamo duo face extradition to Spain after release - Times Online

Guantanamo duo face extradition to Spain after release

 

Ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee, Jamil el-Banna leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in central London after being freed on bail

 

Mr el-Banna and his wife Sabah on heading to their London home, the first time the former detainee will see his family in five years

Omar Deghayes, another former Camp Delta detainee, who was re-arrested this afternoon on an extradition order from Spain

Amani Deghayes and Zohra Zewawi, sister and mum respectively of Mr Deghayes, who waited all day to see him in court

Sabah, the wife of former Guantanamo Bay detainee Jamil el-Banna, arrives at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court

The British citizens who were released from Guantanamo Bay. Left to right: Omar Deghayes, Jamil el-Banna and Abdennour Sameur

 

 

 

 

Sophie Tedmanson and agencies

 

Two of the three British residents who returned from Guantanamo Bay yesterday have been arrested in London over Spanish extradition warrants on terrorism-related charges today, while the third was released without charge.

Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes and Abdennour Sameur, flew into London under police guard after being held at the American internment camp without being charged.

Mr el-Banna, who was held for five years after he was seized in Gambia and handed over to US authorities, was arrested this morning after being accused in Spain of belonging to an al-Qaeda terror cell called the Islamic Alliance between 1996 and 2001.

He appeared in court and was later granted bail and released this afternoon where he was welcomed by his family – including a young son he has never met – for the first time since 2002.

Expert View

What has motivated Spain to act now is a mystery, America has had Mr el-Banna in custody for five years and laid no charges

 

Sean O’Neill

 

 

 

Meanwhile Mr Deghayes, a 38-year-old Libyan, spent the day at Paddington Police station where he was held under the Terrorism Act 2000 and questioned on suspicion of the preparation, commission or instigation of terrorism acts

He was released this afternoon only to be re-arrested under EU extradition laws on behalf of Spain and then granted bail.

Mr Sameur, a 34-year-old Algerian, was also questioned under the same circumstances as Mr Deghayes in Paddington, but released without charge this afternoon.

In a hearing at the City of Westminster court earlier today Mr el-Banna, a 45-year-old Palestinian-Jordanian, was granted bail, with part of the £50,000 surety supplied by Oscar-winning British actress Vanessa Redgrave.

Ms Redgrave, an active human rights campaigner and member of the Guantanamo Human Rights Commission, sat in court alongside Mr el-Banna’s wife Sabah and other family members and supporters including Moazzam Begg, the Birmingham man who was freed from Guantanamo Bay in 2005.

Described by his lawyer Clive Stafford Smith as looking “like Santa Claus”, Mr el-Banna appeared in court to have aged dramatically since his being jailed in Guantanamo Bay. He had a straggly grey beard and long hair almost to his waist, and dressed in blue jacket over a tunic-style outfit.

He left just before 4pm, walking out the front doors of the court accompanied by his wife. The couple got into a taxi and headed for their north-west London home where it is believed they planned to celebrate what remains of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

Mr el-Banna made a brief statement saying: “Thank you very much everybody, my solicitor, the British people, the British Government for your help. I’m tired. I want to go home and see my children.”

Earlier in court he had spoken through a translator to confirm his name, date of birth and address as Dollis Hill, before glancing to the gallery where his family and supporters sat.

The court heard claims that Mr el-Banna, who had been granted refugee asylum in Britain before his arrest in 2002, had helped recruit people into terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and Indonesia in order to ultimately fight jihad and holy war.

Mr el-Banna’s lengthy extradition hearing is to begin on January 9 and if convicted he faces 15 years in a Spanish jail.

Mr el-Banna, Mr Deghayes and Mr Sameur, are residents of Britain, but not citizens.

 

 

 

Related Links

• Analysis: are the Guantanamo three a threat?

• Guantanamo three freed – and detained

• Police charged over Heathrow suspect escape

Multimedia

• Video comment: Sean O'Neill

 

 

However Mr el-Banna’s five children, including his oldest son who repeatedly wrote to Tony Blair asking the former Prime Minister to intervene for his father’s release, are all British citizens.

As Mr el-Banna left court about 4pm, Mr Deghayes appeared in relation to his charges. His mother Zohra Zewaw, and sister Amani Deghayes had been at the court all day.

The families, who have not seen the detainees since they were sent to Guantanamo Bay, are said to be angry at their treatment by the authorities, claiming they were not warned of the arrests, which coincided with the Eid al-Adha.

Lawyers for the three men, who were allegedly tortured during their time at Guantanamo Bay where they were held without charge, said they would fight any attempt to extradite them.

All three had agreed to voluntary security arrangements – thought to include monitoring by and regular contact with security agencies - requested by the Government.

A number of other former Guantanamo detainees have been subjected to control orders including the wearing of electronic tags, observing curfews and having restricted access to mobile phones and the internet.

Speaking later outside court, Redgrave described Guantanamo Bay as a “concentration camp”.

“I am very happy I am able to be of some small assistance for Jamil and his wife. It is a profound honour and I am glad to be alive to be able to do this,” the 70-year-old actress said.

“Guantanamo Bay is a concentration camp. It is a disgrace that these men have been kept there all these years and today Jamil will be back home and justice has been done.”

She added: “He is an incredibly strong man, he is a hero but he should not have to be a hero. Justice is being done and being seen to be done and that is the most important thing in the world for democracy and for us.”

[freekitty]

Is he going to live with her?

[PetroniusMaximus]

Stick to dreaming about your past days of glory, your tiresome old biddy.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Vanessa Redgrave is a lefty skank from way back. The way she slavers over the PLO, sympathy for Gitmo terrorists is no surprise.

[jimfree]

Lynn is the sane one.

[Stoat]

A list of films to avoid renting:

Vanessa Redgrave

[weegee]

She should be HAPPY. If this is truly about peace then any combatants who are detained from combat means they will not be fighting in ANY side of the war.

[WOBBLY BOB]

maybe she should pay for English lessons for the little terrorists,too. Their verbage is atrocious.

[DoughtyOne]

Vanessa Redgrave has been the voice of reason (to be disgusted) for a long long time. To hell with her.

[domenad]

I didn’t know Gandalf was Al Qaeda.

[Grampa Dave]

Vanessa Redgrave is a lifelong hater of Jews/Israel and has been in bed with the various Islamofacists.

Below is the Yahoo search on Vanessa Redgrave Jew Hater.

http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?fr=ybr_sbc&p=Vanessa%20Redgrave%20Jew%20Hater

[jazusamo]

Vanessa Redgrave is a moonbat leftie and always has been.

[Finalapproach29er]

“Take back, Va-nes-sa Red-grave....”
-Tom Petty

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***Vanessa Redgrave is a lefty skank from way back.***

You mean that old hag is still around?

[Antoninus]

Such a humanitarian. Here’s an idea, Ms. Redgrave, why don’t you put this person up in your spare bedroom for a few months while he’s on trial?

[techcor]

To be fair she thought she was bailing out Gandalf.

[reagan_fanatic]

What’s so delicious about the left’s ignorance is the fact that if islamic extremists ever did take over, nutsacks like Redgrave and the rest of her Hollywood crowd would be among the first that would be executed.

[Alouette]

Waterboard the beyatch.

[Godwin1]

She’s a communist who hates America. This is not news.

She’s a has-been airhead who craves publicity. This is not news.

[CaptainK]

So left, Jane Fonda named her daughter after her.