Three men detained by British police after their release from Guan-tanamo Bay have been reunited with their families for the first time in nearly five years, although two face extradition to Spain.
One man, Abdennour Samuer, 34, was released by counterterrorism police without charge, but the other two were arrested early on Thursday. Spain accuses Jamil el-Banna, 45, and Omar Deghayes, 38, of being members of an al-Qaeda cell in Madrid. The pair were released on bail yesterday -- £40,000 (US$79,700) of it put up by the actor Vanessa Redgrave -- pending a full hearing of the extradition request.
Banna left court to see his five children for the first time in five years. His youngest daughter was born after his capture by the US and has never met her father.
PHOTO: AP
Outside court Banna, looking exhausted, said: "I am tired, I want to go home and see my children."
Deghayes was granted bail late on Thursday by senior district judge Timothy Workman after a hearing at City of Westminster magistrates court.
After the hearing his mother, Zohra Zewawi, said: "I'm really really happy, yesterday I could not sleep. All today I have been so stressed but now I'm so happy."
The pair were each required to pay £50,000 surety and abide by tough conditions, including a curfew, electronic tags and not traveling abroad. In granting bail Workman dismissed claims from the crown that they would flee abroad or engage in terrorist acts.
Melanie Cumberland, representing the Spanish government, told the court that a Spanish judge had issued warrants for the arrest of the men on Wednesday, the day they flew back to Britain from Guantanamo.
Cumberland said Banna had been a member of the Islamic Alliance based in Madrid and was an associate of Imad Yarkas, convicted by a Spanish court of terrorism offenses. Spain alleges Banna and Deghayes belonged to the cell which provided members to train in Afghan and Indonesian terror camps. The cell was also alleged to have raised funds for terrorism and to have spread al-Qaeda propaganda.
But Ed Fitzgerald, lawyer for both men, accused the crown of making wild accusations "for which there was no evidence."
He said there was evidence that neither the US nor UK authorities considered the men to pose a significant danger.
A US administrative review board which met at Guantanamo Bay had decided in May that Banna did not pose a risk to the US or its allies. It had also decided the same for Deghayes. British counterterrorism police had questioned both men and decided that they should not be charged with any offense.
Fitzgerald said "the centerpiece" of the Spanish case was a video allegedly showing Deghayes taking part in terrorist acts in Dagestan. But an expert had concluded the person in the video was a Chechen fighter who had died years ago.
Granting bail to Banna, Workman said that the "prosecution concerns about offenses being committed are outweighed by the detailed review being carried out in the US."
HISTORIC: After the arrest of Kim Keon-hee on financial and political funding charges, the country has for the first time a former president and former first lady behind bars South Korean prosecutors yesterday raided the headquarters of the former party of jailed former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol to gather evidence in an election meddling case against his wife, a day after she was arrested on corruption and other charges. Former first lady Kim Keon-hee was arrested late on Tuesday on a range of charges including stock manipulation and corruption, prosecutors said. Her arrest came hours after the Seoul Central District Court reviewed prosecutors’ request for an arrest warrant against the 52-year-old. The court granted the warrant, citing the risk of tampering with evidence, after prosecutors submitted an 848-page opinion laying out
STAGNATION: Once a bastion of leftist politics, the Aymara stronghold of El Alto is showing signs of shifting right ahead of the presidential election A giant cruise ship dominates the skyline in the city of El Alto in landlocked Bolivia, a symbol of the transformation of an indigenous bastion keenly fought over in tomorrow’s presidential election. The “Titanic,” as the tallest building in the city is known, serves as the latest in a collection of uber-flamboyant neo-Andean “cholets” — a mix of chalet and “chola” or Indigenous woman — built by Bolivia’s Aymara bourgeoisie over the past two decades. Victor Choque Flores, a self-made 46-year-old businessman, forked out millions of US dollars for his “ship in a sea of bricks,” as he calls his futuristic 12-story
FORUM: The Solomon Islands’ move to bar Taiwan, the US and others from the Pacific Islands Forum has sparked criticism that Beijing’s influence was behind the decision Tuvaluan Prime Minister Feletei Teo said his country might pull out of the region’s top political meeting next month, after host nation Solomon Islands moved to block all external partners — including China, the US and Taiwan — from attending. The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders’ meeting is to be held in Honiara in September. On Thursday last week, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele told parliament that no dialogue partners would be invited to the annual gathering. Countries outside the Pacific, known as “dialogue partners,” have attended the forum since 1989, to work with Pacific leaders and contribute to discussions around
END OF AN ERA: The vote brings the curtain down on 20 years of socialist rule, which began in 2005 when Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer, was elected president A center-right senator and a right-wing former president are to advance to a run-off for Bolivia’s presidency after the first round of elections on Sunday, marking the end of two decades of leftist rule, preliminary official results showed. Bolivian Senator Rodrigo Paz was the surprise front-runner, with 32.15 percent of the vote cast in an election dominated by a deep economic crisis, results published by the electoral commission showed. He was followed by former Bolivian president Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga in second with 26.87 percent, according to results based on 92 percent of votes cast. Millionaire businessman Samuel Doria Medina, who had been tipped
RSS