LONDON, 10 March 2004 — Five British nationals were on their way home yesterday from the US detention camp in Cuba for suspected Al-Qaeda and Taleban fighters, leaving behind four compatriots to face possible trial by a US military court for terrorist activities.
The five were crossing the North Atlantic from Guantanamo Bay aboard a Royal Air Force C-17 transport plane, accompanied by officers of the Metropolitan Police anti-terrorist squad, a police statement said.
They were expected to touch down at RAF Northolt Air Base, northwest of London, to be taken to the high security Paddington Green police station in the British capital for questioning.
“Two independent observers, one from the Muslim community, are on the flight which is also being videoed by police,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement that anticipated concern about the five men’s treatment.
Eighty-eight other prisoners of various nationalities have been released from Guantanamo Bay, and a dozen others transferred to their home countries for continued detention, including seven Russians turned over on March 1.
The five being repatriated to Britain are Ruhal Ahmed, Asif Iqbal, Shafiq Rasul, Tarek Dergoul and Jamal Al-Harith.
Still in Guantanamo Bay are Feroz Abbasi, Moazzam Begg, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar, who according to Home Secretary David Blunkett had been captured in the “combat zone” in Afghanistan.
Britain announced on Feb. 19 that, after months of negotiations with Washington, the five — including three from the small town of Tipton, near Birmingham in the English Midlands — would be repatriated.
