Two Guantanamo Britons Meet Lawyer

A lawyer today met two of the four Britons held at Guantanamo Bay for the first time since their imprisonment more than two years ago.

An American-based lawyer, Gita Gutierrez, visited Feroz Abbasi, 23, of London, and Moazzam Begg, 36, from Birmingham, at the US naval base, Camp Delta, where they have been held as suspected terrorists without charge or trial.

Ms Gutierrez's visits today and tomorrow mark the first time a lawyer has met Guantanamo detainees not facing formal charges, a US military official said.

The US has imposed strict controls on what she can say on the men's condition and state of mind after the visits, according to UK-based lawyer Louise Christian. For instance, Ms Gutierrez will not be allowed to report any details of the visit to their families.

Visits by two other lawyers had also been arranged this week for the other two remaining British detainees, Richard Belmar, 23, and Martin Mubanga, 29, both from London, but these were stopped at the weekend.

Ms Gutierrez's visit follows a US supreme court ruling in June that the 585 Guantanamo detainees, made up of various nationalities, can challenge their capture and detention in the American courts. Following this ruling the US government had begun issuing clearances for some lawyers to visit detainees who have not been charged.

But it was unclear how many future meetings with lawyers will be permitted; the Associated Press reported that the lawyers whose visits were stopped at the weekend were told by the US government that future meetings may also be prohibited.

Mr Begg was arrested in Pakistan more than two years ago and Mr Abbasi was captured in Afghanistan in 2001. Mr Begg's father, Azmat, has just returned from America, where he has been campaigning for his son's release.

He was distressed by the conditions imposed on the lawyer's visit. He said: "I won't be able to ask anything about the visit by the lawyer or pass on any kind of message to my son. For almost three years he has not been able to speak to anyone and I'm worried about the effect it is having on him."

Mr Abbasi and Mr Begg had been due to face military trials but these were suspended while discussions continued about their detention.

Five other Britons who spent up to two years at Guantanamo Bay were handed over to British custody in March and then freed without charge. Human rights campaigners have criticised conditions at the detention centre and the legal situation surrounding detainees.

Some of the British detainees that were released in March said they had suffered physical and mental abuse while in US military custody. The US secretary of state, Colin Powell, rejected the accusations.

Today a US military review panel decided not to release five unnamed detainees from Guantanamo Bay, concluding the men had been properly classified "enemy combatants".

The decision brought to 19 the number of cases in which rulings have been made, said Navy Commander Beci Brenton, a Pentagon spokeswoman. None of those has been ordered freed. The military has heard 42 cases to date, and rulings on the others have yet to be confirmed and made public.

The review tribunals are evaluating whether each detainee is properly held as an "enemy combatant" or should be freed. They are separate from a military commission that held pre-trial hearings for four men last week.

The military is not releasing names of prisoners in the hearings, which it calls Combatant Status Review Tribunals. Officials initially released some nationalities but later stopped doing so. Human rights lawyers have criticised the hearings, saying they fail to satisfy June's US supreme court ruling that prisoners may contest their detention in civilian courts.

Also today, there were claims that an Australian al-Qaida suspect held at Guantanamo had suffered two 10-hour beatings when he was captured by the United States in Afghanistan, Reuters reported.

Terry Hicks said his son David, a 29-year-old Muslim convert arrested in 2001 during the US-led war in Afghanistan, had told him of the alleged beating. Mr Hicks, speaking on his return to Australia, saw his son for the first time in five years when he was granted two brief private meetings last week at Camp Delta.

David Hicks appeared at a US military tribunal last week and a US panel said it found no evidence he had been abused by his US captors, Reuters said. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, aiding the enemy and conspiracy to commit war crimes, and faces a trial early next year.