Posted on 02/24/2002 7:20:32 PM PST by Pokey78
British lawyers accuse US defence secretary of 'horsetrading with human beings'
Lawyers acting for British detainees at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba yesterday stepped up pressure for their release and attacked Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, for saying that they could be repatriated only on condition that they were prosecuted here.
Gareth Peirce, who is acting for the families of Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, both from Tipton in the West Midlands, accused Mr Rumsfeld of "horsetrading with human beings".
She said the prisoners were being unlawfully detained and there was growing evidence that they had been interrogated in a vulnerable and distressed state. Mr Rasul's family had received a letter saying he had lost three stone in weight. Foreign Office consular officials agreed at a meeting in London last week that he was "very thin", she said.
The FO admitted that it did not know on what basis five British prisoners were being held at Camp X-Ray in Cuba, Ms Peirce said. It also did not know in what circumstances they had been captured in Afghanistan.
Mr Rumsfeld told the Daily Telegraph that he would send the prisoners back provided they were dealt with by the British courts rather than "simply turning them loose, putting them back out on the streets and having them go get more aeroplanes and flying into the Pentagon and the World Trade Centre again".
The US would demand "a chance to go back and interrogate" them, Mr Rumsfeld added.
Other detainees kept at the base could be tried by military commissions. Asked whether they would face the death penalty, Mr Rumsfeld replied: "Oh, sure."
The US describes the detainees as "unlawful combatants", not prisoners of war. According to the Geneva conventions, in cases of doubt the status of detainees should be decided by an independent tribunal.
It emerged yesterday that the first letter home from a Briton held in Camp X-Ray was marked "prisoner of war mail".
Feroz Abbasi's brief message of reassurance sent to his mother in Croydon, south London, was a surprise, said London-based lawyers acting on his behalf.
Solicitor Louise Christian said: "This is very important, because if they are being recognised as prisoners of war they should be released immediately, as hostilities have now ceased."
The 22-year-old's handwritten letter, the first from a Briton held in high security at Guantanamo Bay, arrived on Thursday. Today, his mother, Zumrati Juma, is to make a public statement demanding that lawyers and medical experts be allowed immediate access to prisoners at Camp X-Ray. Her appeal is backed by the Law Society.
· The British-born chief suspect in the kidnap and murder of reporter Daniel Pearl could go on trial in front of an American military tribunal, Mr Rumsfeld said yesterday. Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh has confessed to playing a part in the kidnapping of the 38-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter, whose murder was confirmed last week.
Mr Rumsfeld said Mr Saeed, who is from Wanstead, east London, and dropped out of the London School of Economics before becoming an Islamic militant in Pakistan, met all the criteria for going on trial in front of an American military tribunal. The American Department of Justice is reportedly moving to extradite Mr Saeed from Pakistan.
Mr Rumsfeld told NBC's Meet the Press programme: "He certainly is someone that has committed a crime against an American and would be someone that I assume that our law enforcement people would extradite."
Police in Afghanistan revealed that they are searching for three Arab nationals believed to have played a part in the kidnapping and murder.
LOL! Even in spite of the late-night generated typos?
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