19 February 2004 STATEMENT BY THE FOREIGN SECRETARY ON RETURN OF BRITISH DETAINEES I am going to make a statement concerning the 9 British citizens detained at Guantanamo Bay. The Al Qaida terrorist attacks on September 11th 2001 killed over 3,000 people, from more than 90 countries, including 67 British citizens. This was the most appalling terrorist atrocity the world had ever seen. In response to those attacks, a coalition of countries came together to launch a military campaign against Al Qaida and its supporters to remove them from their stronghold in Afghanistan. As a result, individuals believed to be Al Qaida or Taliban fighters, or their supporters, were detained by coalition forces. The vast majority of these individuals were released, but a number who were deemed to pose a substantial risk of returning to the conflict were sent by the US to its detention centre in Guantanamo Bay to be detained, and to be questioned about their knowledge of Al Qaida's activities. As a result valuable information has been gained which has helped to protect the international community from further Al Qaida and related terrorist attacks. The UK Government has been in frequent and regular contact with the United States authorities concerning the 9 British detainees. British officials have visited Guantanamo Bay 6 times to check on the detainees' welfare. We have kept their families, and Parliament, informed. In July 2003, two of the British detainees were designated by the United States authorities as eligible to stand trial by the US Military Commissions being established to deal with the detainees. The British Government has made it clear that it had some concerns about the Military Commission process. Consequently, the Prime Minister asked the British Attorney- General to discuss with the US authorities how the detainees, if prosecuted, could be assured of fair trials which met international standards. The Attorney General has held a number of discussions with the US authorities about the future of the detainees. These have been paralleled by discussions between myself and US Secretary Powell and between British and US officials. There have been many complex issues of law and security which both Governments have had to consider. Although significant progress has been made, in the Attorney General's view the Military Commissions, as presently constituted, would not provide the type of process which we would afford British nationals. Our discussions are continuing. In the meantime, we have agreed with the US authorities that 5 of the British detainees will return to the UK. They are: - Rhuhel Ahmed - Tarek Dergoul - Jamal Al Harith - Asif Iqbal - Shafiq Rasul These men will be flown home to the UK in the next few weeks. Once the detainees are back in the UK, I understand that the police will consider whether to arrest them under the Terrorism Act 2000 for questioning in connection with possible terrorist activity. Any subsequent action will be a matter for the police and the Crown Prosecution Service so it would be not be right for me to comment further. We are still discussing with the US authorities the situation of the other 4 British detainees. They are: - Feroz Abbasi - Moazzam Begg - Richard Belmar - Martin Mubanga There are a range of security and other issues, which we and the Americans need to consider in respect of the 4 men. But our position remains that the detainees should either be tried in accordance with international standards or they should be returned to the UK. Thank you. |
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