|
The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
|
February 20th,
2009 - British Resident to be Freed from Guantanamo Bay |
|
British
Resident to be Freed from Guantanamo Bay From Reuters February 20, 2009 London - Binyam Mohamed, a British
resident held in the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay for the past five
years, is to be returned to Britain, the Foreign Office said on Friday. It is nearly 18 months since
Britain formally asked the United States to release five British residents
held at the prison camp on Cuba. Three, not including Mohamed, have already
been freed. "The UK and U.S.
governments have reached agreement on the transfer of Mr Binyam Mohamed from
Guantanamo Bay to the UK," the Foreign Office said in a statement.
"He will be returned as soon as the practical arrangements can be
made." A U.S. government official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mohamed might be transferred as soon
as Monday. Mohamed, an Ethiopian
citizen, was arrested in Pakistan in April 2002. He says he was tortured and
abused while in custody there, and later flown to Morocco on a CIA plane,
where he was tortured and abused before being moved to Guantanamo. The U.S. has denied he was
subjected to "extraordinary rendition", and Morocco has denied ever
holding him. He has been accused of
training at al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and plotting to set off a
radioactive bomb in the United States, but no charges have been brought
against him. Mohamed's case has received
widespread coverage in Britain. Earlier this month,
Britain's High Court reluctantly ruled that evidence of the torture he was
subjected to should remain classified after the United States said releasing
it could threaten intelligence cooperation between Washington and London. Lawyers for Mohamed, 30,
said they were pleased at the news he is to be freed. "Right now we're just
happy, I'm just thrilled that he is coming back to the UK," said Yvonne
Bradley, an American military officer who has acted as his lawyer at
Guantanamo. "His desire is to stay
in the UK... He is not the first resident to be returned home and I hope he
gets treated in the same way," she told Sky News. Reporting by Luke Baker;
editing by Tim Pearce. © Thomson Reuters 2008. All
rights reserved. External link: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSLK819689 |