Nadkor
27-01-2005, 01:28
The four British men who returned home from Guantanamo Bay on Tuesday have been released without charge by police.
Moazzam Begg, Martin Mubanga, Feroz Abbasi and Richard Belmar left Paddington Green police station on Wednesday night, Scotland Yard said.
The men, from Birmingham and London, had been questioned by anti-terrorist officers in the UK after being held at the camp in Cuba for three years.
The four had been accused by the US of having links to al-Qaeda.
Family reunion
They are now being reunited with their families at a location of their choice, police said.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Shortly before 9pm four men arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 on January 25 were released without charge.
"This followed liaison between police and the Crown Prosecution Service."
He said the men had been interviewed by anti-terrorist officers after being arrested under section 41 of the act, which referred to the alleged involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
Mr Abbasi, 24, Mr Belmar, 25, Mr Mubanga, 32, all from London and Mr Begg, 36, from Birmingham, returned to the UK on Tuesday evening in an RAF plane.
Washington had claimed all four were "enemy combatants" who trained at camps run by al-Qaeda.
The Pentagon says they were freed after the UK government promised they would not be a threat to the national security of the US or any of its allies.
Earlier on Wednesday, Louise Christian, lawyer for Mr Abbasi and Mr Mubanga, said the detainees' families were "desperate" to be reunited with their loved ones.
But she said they had turned down the chance to see their relatives in custody as a police officer would have been present.
She said they wanted to be reunited in private.
Asked about claims that the men had been tortured while in US custody, she said: "It is difficult for torture victims to talk about the torture. I am very worried about them.
"They should be treated as torture victims."
Legal action
She said Mr Abbasi had: "an air of unreality about him. He doesn't know where he is.
"Like all victims of torture he's finding it difficult to talk about it."
Her other client, Mr Mubanga, was also "very traumatised", she said.
The lawyer for Mr Begg and Mr Belmar said the four men were victims of torture needing treatment and rehabilitation.
"I can guarantee you we will sue the American government," Clive Stafford Smith added.
BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4210815.stm)
just thought youd like to know
Moazzam Begg, Martin Mubanga, Feroz Abbasi and Richard Belmar left Paddington Green police station on Wednesday night, Scotland Yard said.
The men, from Birmingham and London, had been questioned by anti-terrorist officers in the UK after being held at the camp in Cuba for three years.
The four had been accused by the US of having links to al-Qaeda.
Family reunion
They are now being reunited with their families at a location of their choice, police said.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Shortly before 9pm four men arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000 on January 25 were released without charge.
"This followed liaison between police and the Crown Prosecution Service."
He said the men had been interviewed by anti-terrorist officers after being arrested under section 41 of the act, which referred to the alleged involvement in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.
Mr Abbasi, 24, Mr Belmar, 25, Mr Mubanga, 32, all from London and Mr Begg, 36, from Birmingham, returned to the UK on Tuesday evening in an RAF plane.
Washington had claimed all four were "enemy combatants" who trained at camps run by al-Qaeda.
The Pentagon says they were freed after the UK government promised they would not be a threat to the national security of the US or any of its allies.
Earlier on Wednesday, Louise Christian, lawyer for Mr Abbasi and Mr Mubanga, said the detainees' families were "desperate" to be reunited with their loved ones.
But she said they had turned down the chance to see their relatives in custody as a police officer would have been present.
She said they wanted to be reunited in private.
Asked about claims that the men had been tortured while in US custody, she said: "It is difficult for torture victims to talk about the torture. I am very worried about them.
"They should be treated as torture victims."
Legal action
She said Mr Abbasi had: "an air of unreality about him. He doesn't know where he is.
"Like all victims of torture he's finding it difficult to talk about it."
Her other client, Mr Mubanga, was also "very traumatised", she said.
The lawyer for Mr Begg and Mr Belmar said the four men were victims of torture needing treatment and rehabilitation.
"I can guarantee you we will sue the American government," Clive Stafford Smith added.
BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4210815.stm)
just thought youd like to know