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MPs focus on MI5's role over detainees

Ben Russell
Wednesday 10 January 2007 01:00 GMT
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MPs have demanded to know whether MI5 supplied intelligence to the United States about British residents still being held in Guantanamo Bay. They called for the intelligence services to review the cases of two men, Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna, and correct any false allegations made against them.

Critics of the detention camp stepped up their pressure on the Government to press for the release of the eight British residents still held at the base.

Members of the all-party Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee are understood to have interviewed lawyers for Mr Rawi and Mr Banna. The men were arrested in The Gambia after a "suspicious device" was found in Mr Rawi's luggage. The device turned out to be a battery charger.

Mr Banna's family will protest in Downing Street tomorrowand Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, is expected to join them. He said: "Guantanamo Bay violates every accepted principle of law and has done serious damage to the reputation and credibility of the US and the United Kingdom."

The Foreign Office minister Ian McCartney insisted the Government was "committed" to securing Mr Rawi's release.

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