Britain has declined to accept the return of nearly all of the former British residents held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because they have no legal right to return, the Guardian reported yesterday.
Authorities in the US are also demanding that Britain maintain 24-hour surveillance on the detainees if they are set free, something Britain regards as unnecessary and requiring too many of its anti-terror resources.
Britain is interested in taking back just one man held at the base -- Bisher al-Rawi -- who reportedly helped intelligence service MI5 keep watch on extremist Muslim cleric Abu Qatada, who has been arrested, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed senior British sources.
A spokesman for Britain's foreign ministry said that the country is "not in a position to provide consular or diplomatic assistance to foreign nationals in Guantanamo Bay."
"However we have, exceptionally, met the families and representatives of these men and have conveyed their concerns to the US on a humanitarian basis," he said.
"We regard the circumstances under which detainees continue to be held at Guantanamo Bay as unacceptable. As the prime minister has said, Guantanamo should be closed," he said.
At least nine former British residents have been held at Guantanamo for more than four years.
The Guardian reported that the US State Department confirmed that there are "ongoing diplomatic negotiations."
"I am not satisfied it would be proportionate to impose ... the kind of obligations which might be necessary to satisfy the US administration," wrote William Nye, the director of counter-terrorism and intelligence at the Home Office, in a witness statement seen by the Guardian.
"The use of such resources ... could not be justified and would damage the protection of the UK's national security," he said.
The report comes after Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer, Britain's de facto justice minister, criticized the controversial base in a speech before Australian senators, MPs, judges and academics at the Australian Supreme Court last month.
"It is because of that principle that the USA, deliberately seeking to put the detainees beyond the reach of the law in Guantanamo Bay, is so shocking an affront to the principles of democracy," he said.
More recently, the US Senate on Thursday passed controversial new rules on interrogating and prosecuting "war on terror" suspects, despite opponents who said the measure seriously curtails detainees' rights.
The legislation had become a major battleground in a national debate, pitting measures to safeguard the country from terrorism against the need to protect civil liberties.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was