Five UK Guantanamo detainees due home
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-03-09 13:43

Five British men detained by the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will head home within the next 24 hours, according to the UK's Home Secretary David Blunkett.

Another four British terror suspects remain in U.S. military custody.

Blunkett made the announcement when responding to a question while speaking at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachussets.

The U.S. State Department would not confirm the release Monday, and the U.S. military said it did not comment on releases until after they had occurred.

The imminent release comes as the families of European detainees at the controversial U.S. prison camp traveled to Washington to press for greater justice for their relatives.

They were joined by former hostage Terry Waite who says the detention without trial of those at Guantanamo Bay is similar to his own situation.

Waite was the special envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury when he headed to Lebanon in 1987 to win freedom for several hostages.

He was kidnapped by terrorists and spent four years in solitary confinement until his release in 1991.

"We are here today because we believe that there has been a major breach of human rights," Waite told reporters Monday.

"Perhaps it was done with good intention, but the consequences will be disastrous. Disastrous for the United States and for all our freedoms."

About 640 people are still being detained at Guantanamo Bay, while about 100 have been released or transferred to the custody of their home nation.

Of those that remain, many have been held without trial for more than two years -- a situation which has drawn international criticism of the United States from human rights organizations and legal groups.

The United States' military has also come under fire for allegedly using excessive force during arrests of suspected Islamic militants in Afghanistan resulting in avoidable civilian deaths, according to Human Rights Watch.

The U.S. has rejected criticism by the group.

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide this (northern hemisphere) summer whether the detainees at the base -- which lies on a part of Cuban sovereign territory -- come under the jurisdiction of the U.S. civil legal system.

But the outcome is unlikely to favor the detainees, if history is anything to go by.

In a 1993 case involving Haitians held at Guantanamo, the Supreme Court justices decided, by a margin of eight to one, that the base was out of the court's reach.

"The Supreme Court has always drawn a distinction at the water's edge, that our Constitution, our laws of really don't travel well. When you get to that water's edge much our laws stop," law professor Jonathan Turley told CNN.

The fate of the five Britons about to released is equally unclear.

British officials say it will be up to prosecutors to decide whether the five to be released will face charges at home.

"When they return they will, of course, go through the normal process of being interviewed by the (police) counterterrorism branch in London," Blunkett said, in remarks aired by the British Broadcasting Corporation.

"And the material that has been provided will be evaluated."

But legal experts believe it unlikely the five will face trial in the U.K. because any information gleaned from the men during interrogation would be inadmissible since they had no access to lawyers, the Associated Press reports.

Lawyers also said it was questionable whether British courts have jurisdiction over alleged criminal acts in Afghanistan, unless acts of terrorism or treason could be proven.

Fate uncertain

Meanwhile, Australia has still heard no word on the timing of a military tribunal trial of one of two of its citizens held in Guantanamo.

Australia's Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer told reporters Tuesday that he had not had an update on when detainee David Hicks would be tried.

"But can I just say on that, the sooner the better," Downer added.

A second Australia, Mamdouh Habib, is also being held but, unlike Hicks, no indication has been given on whether he will ever face trial.

Australia's parliament on Tuesday passed legislation allowing both men to serve any jail terms they might receive in their home country.

The Australian government has come under criticism for not challenging the United States' right to hold the two Australians on suspicion they might be terrorists.

However Canberra has sought and won guarantees the United States would not impose the death penalty on either of the men and would allow them to serve any prison sentences in Australia.

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