Guantanamo Bay Britons released
The four Britons still held by the Americans in Guantanamo Bay are to be returned to Britain.
Speaking this lunchtime, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told the House of Commons that all four men would be back in the UK within the next few weeks.
Once they return, police will decide whether to arrest them under the Terrorism Act. Any further action will be up to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Feroz Abassi, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar from London and Moazzam Begg from Birmingham were detained as part of the US-led “war on terror”.
They have now been held for nearly three years.
Last year, Mr Begg said he had been subjected to “vindictive torture” and death threats by US authorities. There have also been increasing fears for the men’s mental health.
The US released five other UK citizens last March. None of them were charged upon their return.
Mr Straw told the Commons that the UK government had been in “regular discussion” with the US authorities on the fate of the four men, and had taken its consular responsibilities “very seriously”.
He added that “valuable information” had been gained from some of the 500 plus men held at Guantanamo, and of the 200 or so released the US believed a number had returned to terrorist activities.
As such there had been “complex and intense discussions” to address US security concerns.
The men will be returned to Britain within the next few weeks, and their families have already been informed.
