November 21, 2003	Friday	Ramazan 25, 1424

LONDON, Nov 20: British Prime Minister Tony Blair failed on Thursday to wring concessions from US President George Bush on the fate of British citizens jailed at the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

The treatment of at least nine Britons being held without trial as “enemy combatants” has been a note of discord in the staunch US-British alliance in the war on global terrorism.

Speculation had grown that Mr Bush would use his three-day visit to London to announce that the Britons, mostly detained in Afghanistan, might be sent to Britain for trial.

At a joint news conference, Mr Bush said discussions were continuing, but insisted that the court procedures in place would allow the detainees’ cases to be handled fairly.

“Justice is being done...” Mr Bush said. “And they are being treated in a humane fashion.”

Mr Blair added: “It’s not going to be resolved today...Either they will be tried by the military commission out there, or alternatively, they’ll be brought back here.”

Britain has expressed concern that the procedures of the tribunal at the extraterritorial US base may not guarantee the men a fair trial.

The prison was set up in January 2002 to hold combatants captured in Afghanistan, and also houses others suspected of association with Osama bin Laden’s Islamist al Qaeda network, accused by Washington of carrying out the September 11 attacks on the United States and a host of other bombings.

The detainees have no access to lawyers or to family members, and their long incarceration in legal limbo has outraged many Britons, many of whom are also uncomfortable with the closeness of Mr Blair’s friendship with Mr Bush.

A federal judge has ruled that the foreign detainees are not entitled to appeal in US courts against their detention in Guantanamo because the base is not US territory.

The Supreme Court is to hear an appeal, although the US Justice Department insists the case has no merit.

Mr Blair’s spokesman said the government had never expected the issue of the British prisoners to be solved during Mr Bush’s visit.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell told BBC television on Wednesday that “we also expect to be resolving this in the near future”.

But it is not even clear whether Mr Blair’s team would really welcome the return of the detainees.

Legal experts say it is possible a dearth of evidence gathered in Britain would prevent them being charged in a British court, meaning they could walk free almost immediately. —Reuters