British nationals expected to return from Guantanamo Bay

Five of the nine British nationals held by the US in Guantanamo Bay are expected to return to the UK next week.

Last month, The Times newspaper reported that preparations were being made for the release of the first of the camp's nine British detainees.

At a press conference today in the House of Commons, relatives of the Guantanamo detainees joined Terry Waite to lobby Parliament in a bid to have the Camp Delta detainees accorded basic human rights by the US authorities.

However, it remains unclear whether the men will be re-arrested on their return to the UK. According to comments attributed to US envoy Pierre-Richard Prosper last month, repatriation would be permitted only on firm assurances that the former Guantanamo Bay detainees would be "managed" on their repatriation.

Camp Delta holds around 660 people. US authorities allege that all the detainees who are being held without trial are members of Taleban or Al Qaida. Some of the internees removed from Afghanistan have now been interned for two years.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, have been highly critical of the US for detaining people in conditions which "may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment".

The human rights groups point out that none of the detainees have been granted prisoner of war status or brought before a 'competent tribunal' to determine their status, as required by Article 5 of the Third Geneva Convention.

The US has flatly refused to clarify the detainees' legal status, despite calls to do so from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

US government sources refer to the detainees as 'enemy combatants' or 'terrorists', and according to an Amnesty International spokesperson by so doing are "flouting their right to be presumed innocent and illegally presuming justification for the denial of many of their most basic human rights".

(SP/GMcG)