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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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February 15th,
2009 - Diplomats Say Guantanamo Detainee Fit to Travel |
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Diplomats Say Guantanamo
Detainee Fit to Travel From Reuters February 15, 2009 London - A British resident held
at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay is well enough to travel to Britain if a
request to release him is approved, the Foreign Office (FCO) said on Sunday. British officials, including
a doctor, visited Binyam Mohamed, who has been on hunger strike since
January, on Saturday. "They also met with
medical staff at the facility. There are no immediate medical concerns that
would prevent him from travelling to the UK, should the United States
government agree to the UK's request for release and return," the FCO
said in a statement. "We hope this brings Mr
Mohamed's release and return to the UK one step closer." Mohamed has been in custody
for five years. His U.S. military lawyer said he had lost so much weight that
his health was at risk and he was being force fed. "I was totally shocked
by his condition," she told members of Britain's parliament and the
media, saying she had last seen him on January 28. "I have serious
concerns that he could die," Lieutenant-Colonel Yvonne Bradley said on
Wednesday. The visit follows a move by
U.S. President Barack Obama to prioritise a review of Mohamed's case and
could lay the ground for Mohamed, who says he was tortured by foreign agents
while in U.S. detention, to be returned to Britain. Mohamed, an Ethiopian national,
was arrested in Pakistan in April 2002. He says he was then flown to Morocco
on a CIA plane and held for 18 months, during which he says he was repeatedly
tortured, including having his penis cut with a knife. Morocco has denied holding
him. He was transferred to Afghanistan in 2004 and later moved to Guantanamo,
U.S. authorities have said. Washington denies that he was subjected to
rendition or torture. One of Obama's first acts as
president was to announce that Guantanamo, widely viewed as a stain on the
United States' human rights record, would be shut down. The prison was set up at a
U.S. military base in Cuba to hold captives from the "war on
terror" launched after the September11, 2001, attacks on the United
States. Mohamed's case has attracted
widespread publicity in Britain because U.S. legal authorities have fought to
prevent evidence being released that his lawyers say shows he was tortured.
The evidence is contained in documents held in Britain. Britain's high court ruled
last week the evidence should not be released as it could lead to reduced
intelligence cooperation with the United States and prejudice Britain's
national security. Reporting by Frank Prenesti
and Luke Baker; Editing by Janet Lawrence. © Thomson Reuters 2008. All
rights reserved. External link: http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE51E16R20090215 |