By IRNA
London : In a dramatic u-turn in previous government policy Tuesday, Foreign Secretary David Miliband has requested that five British residents be released from US custody at Guantanamo Bay.
The Foreign Office said Miliband made a formal request to his American counterpart Condoleezza Rice for the five detainees to be freed.
“The foreign secretary and home secretary have reviewed the government’s approach to this group of individuals in light of these ongoing developments, our long-held policy aim of securing the closure of Guantanamo Bay, and the need to maintain national security,” a departmental statement said.
Previously, ministers had insisted that, as the five men – Shaker Aamer, Jamil El Banna, Omar Deghayes, Binyam Mohammed and Abdennour Sameur – were not UK citizens, the government had no responsibility towards them.
But the Foreign Office said US efforts to reduce the number of captives at its internment camp outside American jurisdiction had prompted the rethink.
“They have decided to request the release and return of the five detainees who have links to the UK as former residents, having been granted refugee status, indefinite leave or exceptional leave, to remain prior to their detention,” it said.
In 2005, the government secured the release of all the British citizens being held at Guantanamo but rejected calls to do more to help the remaining five UK residents.
“Our representations are limited to those with links to the United Kingdom as evidenced by their past lawful residence here,” the statement added.
It added that should the residents be returned, “the same security considerations and actions will apply to them as would apply to any other foreign national in this country.”
Human rights group Liberty welcomed the change in policy by the UK government “especially if it signals a bigger change of approach on both sides of the Atlantic.”
“Surely US and UK governments need no further evidence that internment, kidnap and torture have been completely counterproductive in the struggle against terrorism,” Liberty welcomed the UK government’s request, Liberty’s legal director James Welch said.
“It’s high time that the special relationship returned to its original values of defending liberty rather than degrading it,” Welch also said.