Brits ask U.S. to free 5 more from Gitmo

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The government of new British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has formally requested the release of five British residents from U.S. detention in Guantanamo Bay.

In a letter Monday to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband asked for the release and the transfer to Britain of the five, who were all refugees or asylum-seekers who had lived legally there prior to their incarceration by the U.S. military.

An official at the British embassy in Washington authorized to speak to the media told United Press International that the request had been made "in the light of recent steps taken by the U.S. government" to empty the controversial prison by returning the remaining detainees to their own or other countries.

"That is going to take an international effort," said the British official. "It is right that we should play our part."

But he said the request was "limited to those who had links to the United Kingdom." The United States had previously released nine British citizens who were held at Guantanamo.

Negotiations about the transfer, and about any security guarantees, would likely "take some time," he said.

According to the group Human Rights Watch, the five are:

-- Abdennour Sameur, a 34-year-old Algerian given refugee status in the United Kingdom in 2000; held at Guantanamo since 2002;

-- Binyam Mohammad, a 29-year-old Ethiopian who sought asylum in the United Kingdom in 1994 and was given leave to remain; rendered by the CIA to Morocco where he was held for 18 months and reportedly tortured, before transfer to Guantanamo in 2004;

-- Jamil el-Banna, a Jordanian granted refugee status in the United Kingdom in 1997; arrested in 2002 in Gambia and held at a CIA facility in Afghanistan, where he was reportedly tortured, then sent to Guantanamo in 2003.

-- Shaker Aamer, a 39-year-old born in Saudi Arabia, had lived in Britain since 1996, and is married with four British children; arrested and initially held in Afghanistan, transferred to Guantanamo in 2002.

-- Omar Deghayes, a 36-year-old Libyan granted refugee status in the United Kingdom in 1987; arrested in Pakistan and sent to Guantanamo in 2002.

--

Shaun Waterman, UPI Homeland and National Security Editor