UK requests Guantanamo releases

by Al Jazeera (reposted)

Tue, Aug 7, 2007 11:12AM

Tuesday, August 7, 2007 : Foreign minister writes to the US asking for five British residents to be freed.

The decision appears to mark a shift from policy under Tony Blair, the former British prime minister.

His government secured the release of all nine British citizens held at the US military prison but maintained it was not responsible for detainees of other nationalities who had lived in Britain. > Last year, Blair's government successfully fought off a legal challenge by relatives of several of the British residents in the US detention centre seeking to force London to press for their release.

The foreign office said Miliband and Jacqui Smith, the interior minister, "have decided to request the release from Guantanamo Bay and return to the UK" of the five men.

British residents

The men are Shaker Aamer, a Saudi national; Jamil el-Banna, who is Jordanian; Omar Deghayes, a Libyan; Binyam Mohamed from Ethiopia; and Abdennour Sameur, an Algerian

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For more information: http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/373...

§UK seeks Guantanamo releases

by BBC (reposted)

Tue, Aug 7, 2007 11:10AM

Tuesday, August 7, 2007 : The UK government requests the release of five British residents from US custody at Guantanamo Bay.

The men are not British citizens but lived in the UK before they were detained by the US.

The request is a change of policy for the government which had previously said it could not intercede for non-British citizens.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband formally wrote to his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice with the request.

The five men are Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes, Binyam Mohammed al Habashi and Abdulnour Sameur.

Lengthy talks

They were former UK residents who had either been granted refugee status, indefinite leave or exceptional leave to remain prior to their detention.