Camp X-Ray Brits released

Five of the nine British prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay are to be released, the Foreign Office announced today.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that they would be returned to the UK "in the next few weeks".

The five to be released are: Rhuhel Ahmed, Tarek Dergoul, Jamal Al Harith, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul. Police will consider whether they should face questioning under the Terrorism Act 2000 when they get back to Britain, Mr Straw added.

He defended the right of the US authorities to detain suspected al-Qaeda terrorists and Taliban fighters at the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba without trial following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan.

"As a result valuable information has been gained which has helped to protect the international community from further al-Qaeda and terrorist attacks," he said.

The move followed the decision in July by the US authorities that two of the detained Britons were eligible for trial by US military commissions.

However, after discussions with the US authorities, the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, took the view that the commissions "would not provide the type of process we would afford British nationals".

As a result it was agreed that the five should be returned to Britain.
Discussions were continuing over the other four although Mr Straw said the British Government still believed they "should be tried in accordance with international standards or returned to the UK".

He added: "There are a range of security and other issues which we and the Americans need to consider in respect of these four men."