Guantanamo five to be sent back to UK

[UpInArms]

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/02/20/1077072807510.html

Five Britons being held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba will be sent home within a few weeks and may face arrest in the UK, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said today.

<snip>

In Washington, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the countries involved had assured the United States that the men being returned would not pose a future threat.

"These detainees who are at Guantanamo Bay are people who are a threat to our country. That's why they were detained there, they are a danger to America and our friends and allies," McClellan told reporters.

<snip>

The Britons are among about 660 alleged al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States who are being held at the maximum-security prison at Guantanamo.

The United States says the prisoners are "enemy combatants," not prisoners of war, and can be tried by military tribunals.

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