Guantanamo eight to sue British intelligence: report
LONDON (AFP) — Eight men freed from Guantanamo Bay are looking to sue the British intelligence services for damages, the Daily Mail said Saturday citing lawyers and one of the former detainees.
The daily newspaper said two separate writs had been issued on behalf of the eight -- five British nationals and three with residency rights -- claiming the complicity of the domestic and overseas security services with the Americans.
The first writ has been issued at London's High Court by lawyers acting on behalf of Libyan national Omar Deghayes, Jordanian Jamil el-Banna and Bisher al-Rawi, an Iraqi.
Deghayes and el-Banna were released from the US-run facility on Cuba last December. Al Rawi was set free earlier this year. Spain dropped an attempt to extradite them to face terrorism charges in March.
The second writ is on behalf of British nationals Moazzam Begg, from Birmingham, west central England; a trio of friends from nearby Tipton, Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Ruhal Ahmed; and Londoner Richard Belmar.
The three men from Tipton unsuccessfully sued their former captors for alleged human and religious rights violations in the US courts. The case is now being taken to the US Supreme Court.
Begg was quoted as saying the case will centre on British intelligence's "general behaviour and complicity in the abuse of British citizens' from their detention, interrogation and transfer to Guantanamo.
Lawyer Irene Membhard, from London law firm Birnberg Pierce, confirmed to the newspaper that the writs had been issued. "Service is not imminent but watch this space within the next two months," she was quoted as saying.
In a separate report Saturday, The Guardian said the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff between 2001 and 2005, General Richard Myers, was duped into accepting the use of aggressive interrogation techniques at Guantanamo.
Quoting from a new book by London-based human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, it said senior figures in the administration of US President George W. Bush pushed through measures outlawed under the Geneva conventions.
