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Britain doesn't want to try nine terror suspects

The British government has told the US that it does not want Britons held at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to be returned for trial in Britain, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

The British decision comes after advice from government lawyers that it would be hard to mount a successful prosecution in London because of the difficulty in obtaining evidence that is admissible in court, the newspaper said.

The government was also concerned that the collapse of a prosecution in Britain would anger the public and be politically damaging, the right-wing weekly added.

Nine British nationals are being held on suspicion of terrorism by the US in Guantanamo Bay.

Washington has issued a list of six foreigners detained there, including Britons Feroz Abbasi, 23, and Moazzam Begg, 35, who could face secret trials before a US military commission.

It alleged that all six were either members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, which is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, or otherwise involved in extremist violence.

Britain has won US assurances that neither Abbasi nor Begg would be liable to face the death penalty -- a development seen as a US concession.

A government source told the Telegraph that British Prime Minister Tony Blair had made clear to US President George W. Bush that it was "unlikely the men would face trial in Britain, and that it could be embarrassing if they were released on their return after the US had branded them as major players in a terrorist network."

One senior government official told the paper: "The legal advice is that they could not be tried in Britain. Even to begin proceedings we would need statements and eyewitness accounts which we know we haven't got."
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