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Choose Between Gitmo, Torture Country
CAIRO — Jamil el-Banna and his family waited nearly four years for his release from Guantanamo, but as the moment of truth approaches he faces a "nightmare choice" between languishing in the notorious camp or being shipped to his home country where torture is a common jail practice.
"Now he's been cleared for release, he faces the start of a new nightmare," his lawyer Zachary Katznelson told the Guardian on Monday, May 28.
Jordanian-born Banna was detained by the US in 2002 on a false tip-off from the British intelligence.
He was taken to Bargram airbase in Afghanistan and then to Guantanamo where he has been held without charges.
After four years in hellish Guantanamo, Banna, who turns 45 today, is ready to be set free.
"Each time I see him he's more depressed. He is increasingly despondent about being sent to Jordan," said Katznelson.
Banna is likely to be denied entry into Britain to reunite with his wife and five British children.
In this case, he would be shipped to his native Jordan, which he fled to Britain in 1994.
London, which had granted Banna refugee status after fleeing torture in Jordan, says it has no obligation to help British residents held by the US in Guantanamo.
At least two other British residents who were cleared for release from Guantanamo have been barred from returning to Britain.
Outrage
Banna's lawyers plan to take the government to court to guarantee allowing him back to Britain.
"Since the British government had a role in his detention, to refuse him re-entry would be repugnant," said Solicitor Irène Nembhard.
"It would be unlawful as his children are British nationals with a right to family life under article eight [of the European Convention on Human Rights]."
Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather agrees that the government has a duty to reunite Banna with his family.
"Hearing that Jamil has been cleared for release should be a moment of rejoicing for his family. But instead it seems they are about to be torn apart.
"Jamil was arrested because of false information passed by British security services, and he has been left in Guant?namo to rot because the British government refuses to act," she said.
More
Jordanian-born Banna was detained by the US in 2002 on a false tip-off from the British intelligence.
He was taken to Bargram airbase in Afghanistan and then to Guantanamo where he has been held without charges.
After four years in hellish Guantanamo, Banna, who turns 45 today, is ready to be set free.
"Each time I see him he's more depressed. He is increasingly despondent about being sent to Jordan," said Katznelson.
Banna is likely to be denied entry into Britain to reunite with his wife and five British children.
In this case, he would be shipped to his native Jordan, which he fled to Britain in 1994.
London, which had granted Banna refugee status after fleeing torture in Jordan, says it has no obligation to help British residents held by the US in Guantanamo.
At least two other British residents who were cleared for release from Guantanamo have been barred from returning to Britain.
Outrage
Banna's lawyers plan to take the government to court to guarantee allowing him back to Britain.
"Since the British government had a role in his detention, to refuse him re-entry would be repugnant," said Solicitor Irène Nembhard.
"It would be unlawful as his children are British nationals with a right to family life under article eight [of the European Convention on Human Rights]."
Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather agrees that the government has a duty to reunite Banna with his family.
"Hearing that Jamil has been cleared for release should be a moment of rejoicing for his family. But instead it seems they are about to be torn apart.
"Jamil was arrested because of false information passed by British security services, and he has been left in Guant?namo to rot because the British government refuses to act," she said.
More
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The government was under pressure last night to allow a London man held in Guantánamo Bay for four years to return to Britain after the US cleared him for release from the notorious prison.
Jamil el-Banna was detained by the US in 2002 after Britain sent the CIA false information about him. He had also failed to accept an MI5 offer to turn informant.
If refused entry to Britain, Mr Banna could be returned to face torture in his native Jordan, from where he fled to Britain in 1994 after alleging ill treatment.
More
http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,,2089623,00.html