Guantanamo inmate told: You can't return to UK, you've been away too long

By Ben Russell
The Independent
Jun. 15, 2007

Gordon Brown is being urged to intervene to stop the Home Office banning a British resident from returning home after more than four years at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Campaigners expressed fury after ministers said Jamil el-Banna's permission to stay in Britain had lapsed during the four-and-a-half years he has been held without charge at the US detention camp.

They warned that Mr Banna, a refugee whose wife and five children live in north London, could face detention or torture if he is sent back to his native Jordan when he is released.

Mr Banna's son, Anas, 10, will deliver a letter to Gordon Brown today, asking the prime minister-in-waiting to let his father return home for Father's Day on Sunday. Anas asked Mr Brown: "I hope you won't say that my dad was away from the country for more than two years as they say. My dad was only out of the country because he was locked up over there. They stopped him from coming back to us. Now my Dad can leave and we hope he comes back to us. I hope he comes back to us before 17 June, before Father's Day. Every year this day is very sad for us. I hope that this year, this day will be the best day of my life."

Mr Banna was arrested in The Gambia in 2002 with another former Guantanamo detainee, Bisher al-Rawi, who has been freed. The two men had travelled to west Africa to set up a peanut processing plant but were arrested and taken to Afghanistan and Guantanamo after an MI5 tip-off.

The row came as Harriet Harman, the Justice minister and a Brown ally, called for Britain to press for a UN Security Council resolution over Guantanamo.

She told a Labour deputy leadership hustings meeting: "There is no other country in the world that is doing this, other than the US. If it was another country, we would be protesting and we would have a Security Council resolution condemning Guantanamo."

US military authorities have cleared Mr Banna for release from Guantanamo Bay but John Reid, the Home Secretary, has refused to confirm that he will be allowed to return to Britain when he is freed. Instead, a parliamentary written reply from Liam Byrne, the Immigration minister, cast doubt on Mr Banna's right to return to Britain. It said: "Mr Banna was recognised as a refugee by the UK in 1997 and was granted indefinite leave to remain in 2000. That leave has now lapsed."

On Tuesday, lawyers for the businessman, who fled Jordan for Britain in 1994 alleging ill treatment, applied for a judicial review, arguing that the Home Office cannot deny Mr Banna's right to return to Britain as a refugee. His MP, the Liberal Democrat frontbencher Sarah Teather, said it would be "idiotic" to refuse Mr Banna entry to Britain because his leave to stay had lapsed. She said: "He has been away from the country for four-and-a-half years because he has been locked up in Guantanmo Bay. His family are torn between being excited that he might be released and being afraid that he might be sent to Jordan. All they want is for him to come home."

Mr Banna's solicitor, Irene Nembhard, said she had asked the Home Office to confirm that he would be able to return to the UK, but had been told that Mr Reid had yet to decide on the case. She said: "As a refugee recognised by the UK, his status does not lapse. He has a legal entitlement to return to the UK."

A son's plea for his father's return

Extract from letter by Anas el-Banna to Gordon Brown

"When I heard that you care about families and children I decided to write you this letter.

"I was very happy when I saw you on the news showing interest in Madeleine McCann who was kidnapped. I also hope that Madeleine is reunited with her parents safely because I know what it is like to have someone from your family kidnapped. I know how sad and hard it can be for a family because it is sad and hard for my family.

"My Dad wants to come back to us and we want him to come back to our house after all these years. I hope you won't say that my Dad isn't British so you can't help him. My Dad was treated unfairly and kidnapped and even if he isn't British, we, his five children, are. I hope you won't say that my dad was away from the country for more than two years. My Dad was only out of the country because he was locked up over there. They stopped him from coming back to us. Now my Dad can leave and we hope he comes back to us. I hope he comes back to us before 17 June. Every year this day is very sad for us. I hope that this year this day will be the best day of my life".