UK Guantanamo four to be released

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Four of the five British residents held by the US at Guantanamo Bay are to be released, the BBC has learned.

The UK government requested the release of all five men in August after previously refusing to intervene as they were not British citizens.

Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes and Abdenour Samuer will come back to the UK, while Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer will return to his native Saudi Arabia.


'Travesty of justice'.

The fifth British resident being held at Guantanamo, Ethiopian Binyam Mohammed al Habashi, will remain at the detention camp where just over 300 prisoners are still being held.

The facility was set up at a US naval base in Cuba after the invasion of Afghanistan in early 2002. The US has argued that foreign nationals captured and detained outside the US have no recognisable constitutional rights.

Lawyer Zachary Katznelson, of human rights group Reprieve, which represents UK residents at Guantanamo, said all five British residents at Guantanamo had received "nothing at all in the way of justice".

"It's about time they were returned to their families and we're grateful to the British government for making this happen," he added.

Amnesty's UK spokesman Neil Durkin said: "We've always said that Guantanamo is a travesty of justice and that detainees should either be given proper trials or released to safe countries.

"We will now be seeking to establish why Shaker Aamer is expected to go to Saudi Arabia, why Binyam Mohammed is apparently not set for return and why another former UK resident - Ahmed Belbacha - has not been mentioned in these reports."


THE FIVE DETAINEES

Omar Deghayes, Libyan with refugee status
Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, Saudi Arabian granted indefinite leave to remain
Jamil el-Banna, Jordanian with refugee status
Binyam Mohammed al Habashi, Ethiopian asylum seeker
Abdulnour Sameur, Algerian with leave to remain

British and US authorities have been in intensive negotiations about the men's return over the past few months despite the Pentagon insisting the men are all dangerous.

The US is seeking reassurances that they will not pose any security threat.

The Americans accuse Mr el-Banna of being a prominent al-Qaeda recruiter and financier, Libyan Mr Deghayes of associating with al-Qaeda, and Algerian Mr Sameur of receiving combat training in Afghanistan.

An official announcement on the releases is expected in the next few weeks.

The Conservatives have been asking the government whether they think the three men returning to the UK pose a threat and if so what security precautions will be taken when they return.

The men have all either been granted refugee status, indefinite leave or exceptional leave to remain in the UK.

Camp closure

Foreign Secretary David Miliband formally wrote to his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice with the request for the men's release.

Last year the Court of Appeal upheld the government's decision not to request the return of non-British nationals because the US said it would not negotiate with third countries.

The Foreign Office also said such a move would be counterproductive to its aim of securing the closure of Guantanamo.

The foreign secretary and the home secretary said they requested the release of the men because of steps taken by the US government towards shutting down the detention facility.

The government said all British nationals had been released from Guantanamo by January 2005.

'Principled' stand

Lord Goldsmith, who negotiated for the release of Britons held at Guantanamo during his time as attorney general, said the UK had always acted as quickly as it could while following proper procedures in such matters.

He said that had included securing the release of all British nationals.

The UK had rejected the initial demands of the US that prisoners would only be given back if they were automatically detained back in Britain, Lord Goldsmith added.

"So I think we did take a principled and a proper stand - it took longer to get them back than I personally would have liked but at least they did come back," he told BBC News.


The prisoners say that habeas corpus does extend to Guantanamo Bay because, even though the territory is not under formal US sovereignty, it is under US control
BBC correspondent Paul Reynolds

Supreme Court showdown

Meanwhile two cases being heard by the US Supreme Court are being seen as test cases over Guantanamo.

The cases of Kuwaiti detainee Fawzi al-Odah and Bosnian Lakhdar Boumediene challenge the removal - by an act of US Congress - of Guantanamo prisoners' right of habeas corpus to take cases to US civilian courts.

Indefinite detention under military control at Guantanamo could be declared unlawful if the court rules in favour of the prisoners.

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