3 British residents freed from Guantanamo return home

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Xinhua

3 British residents freed from Guantanamo return home


www.chinaview.cn 2007-12-20 05:54:00

LONDON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Three British residents held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay for more than four years were flown back home on Tuesday evening.

But police said Omar Deghayes and Abdenour Samuer had been arrested under British Terrorism Act after they arrived at Luton Airport.

Jamil el-Banna was not arrested but is being detained under the act and questioned at a Luton police station, police said.

A statement released by Home Office said the United States had agreed to the release of the three men on Dec. 10, and their immigration status will be reviewed.




Read more: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/20/content_7281978.htm

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Omar Deghayes, Omar Deghayes' family.



Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes, Abdenour Samuer

[saigon68]

1. I wonder if they were WaterBoarded?

Had their testicles wired up to electric current?

Or had a plastic flashlight shoved up their rectums?

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. Some torture is claimed

Teather said the US had tortured El-Banna - exposing him to extremes of temperature, beatings and "appalling and unrepeatable threats to his wife" - and said it would be a "grave, grave injustice" if he were not allowed to remain in Britain.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,2229783,00.html

Editing to add:

Neither Mr el-Banna, a father of five British children, nor Mr Deghayes, who lost the sight in one eye when he was beaten by guards in Guantanamo, have been charged with any terrorist offence in Britain or the US.

The Pentagon has described them as “extremely dangerous” but its evidence against them is allegedto have been obtained under torture and both were deemed fit for release from Camp Delta.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3075641.ece

Even worse is the British resident still imprisoned there:

Binyam Mohammed was born in Ethiopia but was given leave to remain in the UK after seeking asylum in 1994. Seven years later, he travelled to Pakistan and Afghanistan where the Americans allege that he underwent training in firearms and explosives. In 2002, he was arrested by Pakistani immigration officials at Karachi airport on his way back to the UK. He says he was then taken to Morocco and tortured for 18 months, including having his penis slashed, before being sent to Guantanamo, where he still remains.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3239372.ece

[Judi Lynn]

4. So bad you almost can't believe this! From your Independent article:

In a letter sent to the Foreign Secretary David Miliband, Britain is urged to ask the US to stop the CIA destroying the pictures.

Clive Stafford-Smith, the legal director of Reprieve representing Mr Mohammed, said that he also knows the identity of the agents who were present when his client was allegedly beaten and tortured. Writing to Mr Miliband, he said: "Given the opportunity, we can prove that the evidence was the fruit of torture. Indeed, we can prove that a photographic record was made of this by the CIA. Through diligent investigation we know when the CIA took pictures of Mr Mohammed's brutalised genitalia, we know the identity of the CIA agents who were present including the person who took the pictures (we know both their false identities and their true names), and we know what those pictures show."

He added: "I have been privy to materials that allegedly support the finding that Mr Mohammed should be held, and while I cannot discuss some here (due to classification rules), I can state unequivocally that I have seen no evidence of any kind against Mr Mohammed that is not the bitter fruit of torture."

Reprieve says it will be pressing for criminal prosecutions against the CIA agents alleged to have carried out the torture.



Before and after,
Binyam Mohammed.

On edit:
Forgot to thank you for both your links. They are both very helpful. Thank you.

[saigon68]

5. including having his penis slashed,

Nice

</sarcasm>

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. 2 detained under an extradiation request from Spain

The British authorities are thought to be content to release all three after interview, but security sources told The Times that Mr el-Banna and Mr Deghayes could face a fast-track extradition to Madrid on terrorist charges. Lawyers for the men, who have been held without charge and allegedly tortured in Guantanamo, deny the allegations made by Spain and said they would fight extradition.
...
The men’s lawyers are deeply concerned at the threat of extradition requests from Spain. A Spanish investigating judge first requested Mr el-Banna’s extradition in 2004 alleging that he was a key associate of Abu Qatada, the extremist cleric described as Osama bin Laden’s “spiritual ambassador in Europe”.

Documents disclosed in the US revealed that MI5 had approached Mr el-Banna in 2002 to become an informant, supplying information about Abu Qatada. He declined to comply and soon afterwards MI5 alerted the CIA to his arrival in The Gambia, where he was detained before being flown on a ghost flight to Guantanamo.

Spain’s interest in Mr Deghayes is understood to stem from his alleged appearance in a terrorist propaganda video featuring Mujahidin fighters in Chechnya. His lawyers insist that the man featured in the film is a Saudi fighter called Abu Walid.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article3075641.ece