Guantánamo inmate Binyam Mohamed close to release (Guardian)

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Guantánamo inmate Binyam Mohamed close to release

Foreign secretary says British officials will visit
prisoner, who holds UK residency, but outcome
hinges on Obama review

Owen Bowcott
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 February 2009 17.01 GMT

Binyam Mohamed, the UK resident detained in Guantánamo
Bay, is to be visited by a British police doctor and could
be returned to Britain shortly, the foreign secretary,
David Miliband, said today.

The US authorities had agreed to treat Mohamed's case
as "a priority", Miliband said, enabling Britain to work
with Washington for "a swift resolution".

British diplomats have been given permission to see
Mohamed and make preparations for his release and
flight back to the UK. He is an Ethiopian national but
lived in the UK before his arrest in Pakistan in 2002
on suspicion of involvement in terrorism. His
supporters have campaigned for him to be allowed to
return to Britain.

In a statement released after a meeting in London
with Mohamed's US military lawyer, Miliband stressed
that Mohamed's return would depend on the outcome of
a review of Guantánamo cases initiated by Barack
Obama, the new US president.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/11/binyam-mohamed-guantanamo-release

[bushmeister0]

1. That's good news. If only it was this easy for the rest of them.

So, maybe, hunger strikes do work?

[EFerrari]

2. They haven't in the past. Maybe our new Democratic president works.

This is such good news. :)

[bushmeister0]

3. No, they haven't worked up to this point at Gitmo, but they did in

Northern Ireland.

In any case, the big rush in this case to get Binyam out of Gitmo, before he dies, is the political row going on right now in the UK over the Labour government's involvment in overseeing Mohammed's torture in Morracco and now trying to keep files about it sealed as state secrets.

If he were to drop dead right in the middle of this . . . that would be it for Gordon Brown and the Labour Party.

[EFerrari]

4. I've been following that.

I guess in England, people expect more than we do. Sami al Haj nearly died the very same way and no one here knew dick about it and STILL don't.