UK residents seek Guantanamo release at High Court

Lawyers for three long-term British residents held at Guantanamo Bay will return to the High Court today to demand the intervention of the Foreign Secretary in securing their release.

The Foreign Office has so far refused to petition the United States on the detainees’ behalf, arguing that although the men have lived in the UK they are not naturalised citizens.

Lawyers for Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil el-Banna and Omar Deghayes were granted leave to bring today’s case after suggesting that allegations of torture at the detention facility in Cuba obliged the government to act on moral grounds.

Mr Justice Collins ruled last month that such a case was arguable. He commented that America’s definition of torture “is not the same as ours… and doesn’t appear to coincide with that of most civilised countries”. He added that there were also formidable arguments against the case.

Lord Justice Latham and Mr Justice Tugendhat, sitting in London, will consider the full application for judicial review at a hearing expected to last three days. The treatment of detainees at the camp, described as “cruel, inhuman and degrading” by the United Nations, is likely to be the focus of scrutiny.

Philip Sales, counsel for the Government, will counter the claim by arguing that the ministers cannot provide the same level of diplomatic protection to British residents as it does for British citizens.

Nine British nationals who had been detained at Camp Delta have been flown back to the UK and released without charge. At least five UK residents are thought to remain.

Mr al-Rawi, 37, an Iraqi national who had lived in Britain since 1985, and his Jordanian business partner Mr el-Banna, who was granted refugee status in 2000, were detained three years ago in Gambia - “far from any theatre of war”, says their QC, Rabinder Singh.

They were alleged to have been associated with al-Qaeda through their connection with the radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada.

But Mr Singh is expected to argue that Mr al-Rawi’s contact with Qatada was “expressly approved and encouraged by British intelligence” to whom he supplied information about the cleric.

Intelligence operatives assured Mr al-Rawi that, should he run into trouble, they would intervene and assist him.

Mr el-Banna was said to have been in possession of “a home-made electronic device” at the time of his arrest. His lawyers say it was a battery charger bought from catalogue shop Argos.

Mr Deghayes, a 35-year-old law graduate granted asylum from Libya in the UK 15 years ago, was detained in Pakistan. His name was said to be on the FBI’s “most wanted” list. His legal team says he is the victim of mistaken identity.

In a diary, he made allegations of torture and abuse of his fellow detainees and wrote of his intention to go on hunger strike.”We are dying a slow death in here,” he wrote.

Amnesty has accused the government’s reluctance to intervene as shameful, describing the three men as “forgotten prisoners”.

Simon Freeman