WASHINGTON, Jan 11: One Australian and the last four British detainees at the Guantanamo Bay will be transferred to their respective governments, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
"The timing of the detainees' return remains under discussion by our governments," the Pentagon said in a statement. The British and Australian governments gave "a number of security assurances" to the US government and will work to prevent the detainees from engaging in or supporting "terrorist activities" in the future, the statement said.
The Pentagon issued the statement after British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in London that the United States had agreed to return the last four British detainees at Guantanamo "in the next few weeks". Mr Straw left open the possibility that the four will be questioned by police upon their return and potentially charged under Britain's Terrorism Act of 2000.
In Sydney, Australian Attorney General Philip Ruddock said Mamdouh Habib, who had been accused of aiding the Al Qaeda network, was being repatriated at the government's request and it was unlikely he would be charged under Australian law.
The Pentagon did not identify the five. But the four Britons known to be at Guantanamo were Moazzam Begg, from Birmingham in the English Midlands, and Martin Mubanga, Richard Belmar and Feroz Abbasi, from London. All five have been in US custody since 2001 or 2002. Some have alleged through their lawyers that they have suffered torture. -AFP
