Monday, August 13, 2007

Guantanamo 'Brits' cost £7.5m

FIVE men set to be returned to Britain from Guantanamo Bay will cost a staggering £7.5million a year to monitor, security sources revealed last night.

The bill for the suspects — none of them UK citizens — emerged as the Pentagon accused them of being closely linked to al-Qaeda.

Yet, astonishingly Prime Minister Gordon Brown wants them returned here.

All had either refugee status or were given indefinite leave or exceptional leave to remain in Britain before they were detained by the US and sent to Cuba.

Security sources say the huge cost of checking them — £1.5million each — is necessary because although they are suspected of posing a risk they cannot be locked up. The Pentagon’s Sandra Hodgkinson, boss of US detention policy, has described them as “extremely dangerous”.

Shaker Aamer, 38, a Saudi, is accused of being an interpreter for Osama Bin Laden. Jordanian Jamil el-Banna, 44, is alleged to have known Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was in charge of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Those two, along with three others, have been been held in Cuba since 2002.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: “Given concerns of a potential threat to Britain and our allies it is incumbent upon the Home Secretary to explain precisely how she is going to protect our citizens.” The men’s lawyers deny the accusations made against them.

Five Guantanamo Bay inmates that ministers want to bring to Britain are "extremely dangerous" with close ties to Al Qaeda, the Pentagon has warned.

1 comment:

Sonia said...

I am an English woman living in Australia, and cannot believe that anyone would so blindly trust the American government/forces. Shame on our governments in the UK and Australia for being such sheep. I do not support terrorists, no. But neither do I believe that Guatanamo and similar 'detention', torture chambers are legal, no more than our (led by 'big ego' bastards)interference and resultant collateral damage on civilians...namely women, children, the elderly etc. I very much doubt that these men have had a fair, democratic trial. What a mess!