Britain frees all Guantanamo detainees sent home

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, March 11, 2004

Britain frees all Guantanamo detainees sent home

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British police have freed all five Britons flown home from Guantanamo Bay prison camp and the former terror suspects began denouncing their U.S. captors on Thursday amid questions about why they were held for two years.

The United States turned over the five detainees to British custody on Tuesday, and by late Wednesday British police and prosecutors decided to release all of them without charge.

This could cause trouble for Prime Minister Tony Blair, who will face public dismay as to why it took so long for Washington's closest ally to win its citizens' freedom if authorities at home concluded they should not face trial.

One of the five freed men was released on Tuesday and the other four on Wednesday, while a further four Britons remain at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba. Washington says they are more dangerous than the five it decided to send home.

Greg Powell, lawyer for one of the freed men, said 21-year-old Rhuhel Ahmed was on his way to a reunion with his family early on Thursday after being released just before midnight. He was one of three prisoners from Tipton, a small industrial town in central England.

"He's on his way to meet his family and obviously that's a tremendous moment for all of them, because they haven't seen each other since 2001," Powell told Reuters.

Powell said he had met his client at the London jail where he was released and found him in good health. But his treatment at the hands of the Americans had amounted to "torture."

"What I have learned from him is Guantanamo Bay is a kind of experiment in interrogation techniques and methods, really. And they do have extremely interesting stories to tell about what went on there," Powell said.

He declined to give further details about the prisoners' treatment, or explain what his client was doing in Afghanistan when he was arrested.

Source: agencies

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