Guantanamo pair extradition dropped

Spanish authorities have dropped their bid to extradite two former Guantanamo Bay detainees from Britain.

Jamil el-Banna and Omar Deghayesir will no longer be extradited to face terrorist charges linked to claims they were members of an al-Qaeda cell, their solicitor Gareth Peirce said.

She added a hearing will take place at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court later to formally end legal proceedings.

Mr el-Banna, 45, and Mr Deghayes, 38, were arrested on their return to Britain in December after being released from the US camp in Cuba, but later released on bail.

Ms Peirce said: "It should have never, never happened. It caused immeasurable extra anguish for these men and their families.

"I can't think of any circumstances in which these men, emerging from a concentration camp, where they experienced torture, should be detained by any other state in the world."

"This is the end of a sorry chapter in a very long sorry story," she added.

One court hearing was told that Mr el-Banna, a father of five from Dollis Hill, north west London, is a Pakistani national who travelled to Britain on a false Kuwaiti passport.

He has since applied for asylum and been given indefinite leave to remain.

The Spanish authorities accused Mr Deghayes, who lives in Saltdean, near Brighton, of associating with one of the men involved in the 2004 Madrid train bombings.

In January, City of Westminster Magistrates' Court heard the Spanish authorities were "deeply implicated in the ordeal" of the two men.

Both men have been on bail with stringent conditions, such as wearing an electronic tag and obeying curfews.

Speaking in January, Edward Fitzgerald, who represented the pair, said: "The Spanish authorities are deeply implicated in the ordeal of the last five years.

"They acquiesced to and facilitated their interrogation at Guantanamo and indeed participated in that interrogation process.

"They took no steps, or adequate steps, to say we want them for trial in Spain.

"They left them to be interrogated in Guantanamo, and now after they have been exonerated by US authorities, after English police have said they don't wish to bring any charges, the Spanish authorities are saying we want to question them on the selfsame charges."

Human rights campaigner and activist Vanessa Redgrave put up half of Mr el-Banna's £50,000 bail surety and also put £15,000 towards an identical surety for Mr Deghayes.

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