Brits want Gitmo detainees

last updated 8 January 2015

London

Britain this week officially asked the U.S. to send five British residents imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay back to Britain. Under former Prime Minister Tony Blair, Britain won the release of nine British citizens, but Blair’s government said it had no responsibility to intervene on behalf of noncitizens who had been legal residents of Britain. But last month, the British High Court ordered a review of the case of one of the detainees, who is married to a British national and has five British children. Prime Minister Gordon Brown decided to seek the return of all former British residents. “This is a belated recognition of our moral responsibility toward these men,” said Menzies Campbell, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats. The U.S. is expected to comply with the request.