11/03/2004

Guantanamo Britons are all reunited with families

The remaining four Britons who were being held by counter-terrorism officers after arriving from Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday have been freed.

The men – Tarek Dergoul, from London, and Rhuhel Ahmed, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul, all from Tipton in West Midlands – were released late last night and reunited with their families at secret locations.

The men were arrested by Metropolitan police officers after flying into RAF Northolt in Middlesex on Tuesday evening.

A fifth man, Jamal Udeen, from Manchester, was released shortly after arriving in the UK.

The five had been held by US authorities since the conflict in Afghanistan two years ago.

In total, there were nine British nationals in US custody. The four Britons remaining in custody in Cuba – Feroz Abbasi, Richard Belmar, and Martin Mubanga, all from London, and Moazzam Begg, from Birmingham.

According to Home Secretary David Blunkett the four remaining British detainees are being treated differently because they were arrested inside the combat zone.

(gmcg)

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