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Britons on guantanamo to be released in weeks { January 11 2005 }

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   http://news.ft.com/cms/s/706cc924-6419-11d9-b0ed-00000e2511c8.html

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/706cc924-6419-11d9-b0ed-00000e2511c8.html

Guantánamo Britons home 'in weeks'
By Jean Eaglesham and Mark Huband
Published: January 11 2005 22:03 | Last updated: January 11 2005 22:03

The four remaining Britons held by the US at Guantánamo Bay would be returned to the UK within weeks, the government said on Tuesday.


The release of the men, held without trial for almost three years, followed "intensive and complex discussions" led by Tony Blair with the Bush administration, MPs were told.

The Pentagon said the release of the four Britons and an Australian came after their governments gave "security assurances" to the US they would "work to prevent them from engaging in or otherwise supporting terrorist activities".

But Jack Straw told the Commons Britain had given "no side undertakings" to secure the men's release. Any action against the four on their return would be a matter for the police, the foreign secretary said.

Five British Guantánamo detainees returned to the UK last March were questioned by police before being released without charge.

The release of the remaining four - Feroz Abbasi, Moazzam Begg, Richard Belmar and Martin Mubanga - is a relief for the government. Mr Blair has faced the embarrassing spectacle of his closest ally in the war on terrorism being widely condemned for flouting international law. The government has insisted that the US either give the detainees a fair trial or return them.

Azmat Begg, father of Moazzam Begg, said that while he was happy at the news, he was deeply concerned about how his son had been affected by the detention.

"In a way I have mixed feelings," he said. "It seems that my son is not the same person that he was. He has been in solitary confinement for three years and I don't know what sort of condition he will be in."

Mr Straw refused to condemn the Bush administration outright despite a series of attacks by MPs on the "horrendous abuse of human rights" committed at Guantánamo.

He urged MPs to see the Cuban prison camp in the context of the "trauma" inflicted on the US by the September 11 attacks. He said interrogation of suspects there had yielded valuable information about al-Qaeda and the US believed "a number" of the 200 men released from the camp had returned to terrorism.

The special relationship had been instrumental in persuading the US to release the Britons from the camp, where almost 550 men were still held, Mr Straw said. "If it had not been for the alliance, we would not have got back these nine detainees."

Lawyers defending the detainees are concerned about the fate of two British residents with Iraqi and Jordanian nationality.

They were not regarded as the responsibility of the British or their respective governments and were expected to remain in legal limbo, the lawyers said.



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