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05.04.07

Briefing from Clive Stafford-Smith, Legal Director Reprieve*:

Wednesday April 4th: Last week the British government had to back down on its early claim that it had no legal or moral obligation to secure the release of Bisher al Rawi, a British resident who was imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for over four years.

We know that in a telegram dated November 1, 2002, the British government tried to present Mr. al Rawi to the U.S. government as an “Iraqi Islamic Extremist” (this memo has been made public in the lawsuit filed on his behalf). Now, the UK government has been forced to concede that, far from being a radical, Mr. al Rawi was quietly helping the British government in its efforts to combat extremism.

Today’s revelations - concerning an MI5 memo - raise further grave concerns about the good faith of the British government.

The memo at the centre of today’s news concerns an October 31st, 2002, meeting between an unnamed MI5 agent and Jamil el Banna, who has also been in Guatanamo Bay for the past four years. During the meeting Mr. el Banna brought up his plans to travel to Gambia on business, with Mr. al Rawi, and specifically asked whether the government had any objection to this trip and “whether [he and Mr al Rawi ] would be arrested or turned back at the airport.” The MI5 agent replied: “I said that if he had a valid travel document he should be able to travel without a problem.”

Mr. el Banna also asked “whether he would be able to get back into [Britain]” when he went to Gambia, given that he had a wife and children here, and was a legitimate refugee from Jordan, where he had previously faced torture. The memo reflects how the MI5 agent encouraged Mr. el Banna to travel, saying that he would be allowed back in if he had the requisite travel documents.

According to a series of other telegrams, the MI5 contacted U.S. intelligence, “spoke[] at length about this operation,” and then, on November 8th, 2002, sent an urgent message concerning Mr. el Banna’s flight details: “We are able to confirm that … [Jamil el Banna and Bisher al Rawi] have today boarded Sierra National Airlines Flight LJ054 to Banjul, Gambia. The flight was due to depart from the UK at 1230 but the departure was delayed until 1310.”

The next day when Mr. el Banna and Mr. al Rawi arrived at the airport, they were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000. They were alleged to have a suspicious device in their luggage, which turned out to be a High Street battery charger.

Mr. el Banna and Mr. al Rawi were duly detained at the airport in the Gambia, turned over to the U.S., rendered to the Dark Prison in Kabul for several months, and then taken to Guantanamo Bay, where Mr. el Banna is still imprisoned.

The British government takes the position that it played no role in the detention and rendition of Mr. el Banna. This position is simply untenable in light of the evidence. It is clear that British officials encouraged led Mr. el Banna to travel on his wholly innocent business trip to the Gambia, and then actively worked with the US to effectuate his detention and rendition to Afghanistan and Guantanamo.

“Jamil el Banna has a wife and five small children in London, to whom we owe a moral and a legal duty of assistance,” said Clive Stafford Smith, Legal Director of Reprieve. “Rather than assisting them, the British government has robbed the children of their father, and consigned an innocent, diabetic man to Guantanamo’s legal black hole. It is time for the government to repair the terrible damage that it has caused.”

* Reprieve’s lawyers have represented Bisher and Jamil in the US Courts since 2004 and have visited him numerous times in Guantanamo Bay.