Jamil el-Banna cleared for Guantanamo release
 | | Jamil el-Banna |
Jamil el-Banna has been cleared for release from Guantanamo Bay after four and a half years behind bars.
Mr el-Banna, from Dollis Hill, who marked his 45th birthday in the US detention camp on Monday, was officially cleared by the US authorities on Friday after they determined he is not an enemy combatant.
The news comes 15 months into a Times campaign to bring him home.
But as the world learned of his impending release Mr el-Banna is still unaware he is a free man.
His legal team has written a letter to inform him of the US authorities' decision, but it has yet to reach his prison cell.
Despite the seemingly good news, Jamil is now facing a perhaps even worse fate.
It was tarnished by the knowledge that he might be barred from returning to the UK by the British government.
If refused entry to Britain, Mr el-Banna could be returned to face torture in his native Jordan, from where he fled to Britain in 1994.
His lawyer, Zachary Katznelson of the group Reprieve, said: "He has known for a while there is a possibility he may be sent back to Jordan, and his interrogators have been using this as a threat to gain information from him. Now this threat is more imminent than ever.
"The danger is that when the US authorities clear someone for release, they always send them back to their home country, the only way to prevent that is for the UK to allow him to return to Britain."
Mr el-Banna's legal representatives are now in the process of launching an emergency court battle to seek a guarantee from the government that he will be allowed entry into Britain.
Sarah Teather, MP for Brent East, has been campaigning for Mr el-Banna's release since 2004. She also set up the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Guantanamo.
She said: "Jamil's wife, Sabah, is very happy that he has been cleared for release, but at the same time exceedingly worried that he will be sent back to Jordan. This is a very emotional time for the family."
She added: "For four and a half years we have pleaded with this government to intervene and help Jamil, but they have left him to rot. Now he has been cleared, all they need to do is say he can come home.
"This country gave Jamil refugee status because we accepted that he had been tortured in Jordan and that his life would be in danger were he to be returned there. What kind of process of moral decrepitude has gripped this Government that it now sees fit to risk his life by sending him to Jordan, rather than returning him to his five British children?"
No date has yet been set for Mr el-Banna's release.
See Wednesday's Times for the full story.
jenny.engstrom@archant.co.uk
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