Britons to leave Guantanamo Bay

BOSTON - Five Britons being held among terror suspects at the United States naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are to be released within 24 hours, says British Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Blunkett also said yesterday he considered it preferable the four other Britons who remain in detention in the heavily guarded camp be tried by the US.

"We are seeing the release of five of the nine UK citizens who are in Guantanamo Bay over the next 24 hours," Blunkett said in answer to a question after giving a speech at Harvard Law School in Boston.

British officials had already announced the five would be freed shortly.

Once they are in London, they are expected to be set free after being questioned by anti-terror police.

Three of the five - Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqball and Rhuhel Ahmed - come from the central English town of Tipton.

The other two are Tarek Dergoul from London and Jamal al Harith from Manchester.

Blunkett said the four still to be held were combatants or associated with combatants in Afghanistan.

Britain had made representations to the US about the process under which the detainees' cases would be handled, insisting they be given legal representation and the right of appeal.

Blunkett said it was Britain's view that if the men were to be tried on the evidence the US had, "it would be better that they were tried with process here".

Britain - Washington's closest ally in the war on terror - has said in the past it wants the men to be tried in accordance with international standards or returned home.

Two of the four who are to remain captive at Guantanamo are among a small group designated for trial before military commissions.

About 640 terror suspects are at Guantanamo Bay. The military has freed 88 and transferred a dozen to the custody of their home countries.

"When they return they will, of course, go through the normal process of being interviewed by the [police] counter-terrorism branch in London," Blunkett said.

"And the material that has been provided will be evaluated."

Legal experts believe it unlikely the five British citizens to be released will face trial at home because any information gleaned during interrogation would be inadmissible since they had no access to lawyers.

Lawyers also said it was questionable whether British courts had jurisdiction over alleged criminal acts in Afghanistan, unless acts of terrorism or treason could be proven.

Families and lawyers of the five prisoners have insisted throughout their two-year detention that the men are innocent and were mistakenly caught up in the war on terror.

- REUTERS