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Report: U.S. Proposed Strict Terms for Releasing 9 British Residents From Guantanamo Bay

Associated Press
October 3, 2006

LONDON (AP) - U.S. officials suggested the possibility of releasing nine British residents from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but only if they were subject to constant surveillance, according to a news report published Tuesday.
 
A British official involved in the contacts said the level of surveillance demanded by the U.S. was disproportionate to the threat, The Guardian reported, citing witness statements in a British court case brought by the families of the nine men, none of whom is a British national.
 
The Foreign Office declined to comment on the Guardian report, but said it regarded "the circumstances under which detainees continue to be held at Guantanamo as unacceptable" and said it had conveyed the families' concerns to U.S. officials.
 
Senior British officials recently have condemned the Guantanamo prison in strong terms. In May, Attorney General Lord Goldsmith called for its closure. Last month, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer described the prison as a "shocking ... affront to the principles of democracy."
 
Sir Menzies Campbell, leader of the Liberal Democrat party, said Tuesday that Britain had a moral obligation to the former residents.
 
"What is the point of the attorney general and lord chancellor condemning Guantanamo as legally unacceptable when the British government, at the same time, is unwilling to take back U.K. residents who are detained there?" Campbell said.
 
The Guardian said its report was based on witness statements made by David Richmond, director-general of defense and intelligence at the Foreign Office, and William Nye, the Home Office's director of counterterrorism and intelligence.
 
Richmond was quoted as saying that U.S. officials first floated the idea of releasing the nine men at a meeting in mid-June.
 
The idea was discussed with officials from the U.S. State Department, the Pentagon and the National Security Council on June 27, The Guardian said.
 
Nye's statement was quoted as saying the United States proposed strict conditions for release, "such that the returnees cannot legally leave the U.K., engage with known extremists or engage in support, promote, plan or advocate extremist or violent activity, and further have the effect of ensuring that the British authorities would be certain to know immediately of any attempt to engage in any such activity."
 
Essentially, Nye's statement said that would require 24-hour surveillance of the men.
 
"The use of such resources ... could not be justified and would damage the protection of the U.K.'s national security," The Guardian quoted Nye as saying.
 
About 460 detainees are at Guantanamo, including some held for more than four years on suspicion of links to al-Qaida and the ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

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