Four Britons released from the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison camp and re-arrested on their return home were to be questioned by anti-terror police on Wednesday, while a fifth walked free for the first time in over two years.
The five, held since late 2001 or early 2002 along with more than 600 others suspected of fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan or supporting al Qaeda, had flown from the camp in Cuba and landed at a military air base on the outskirts of London on Tuesday evening.
The released man, Jamal al Harif, 37, from Manchester, northern England, was detained at RAF Northolt for questioning but was then freed without charge late on Tuesday and left the base in a police convoy.
His lawyer Robert Lizar expressed anger at how Harif, also called Jamal Udeen, had been treated at Guantanamo and called for justice for him from Britain and the United States.
"He has been treated in a cruel, inhuman and degrading manner, he wants the authorities to answer for that," Lizar told reporters at RAF Northolt.
"He believes that the UK authorities have also been complicit in terms of being involved in questioning him while in detention and allowing that to continue," the lawyer added.
It was not immediately known where Harif was headed but police said officers had "coordinated arrangements for him to be taken to a location of his choice."
The long detention of inmates in Guantanamo without trial or access to lawyers has been denounced by human rights campaigners. Images of Guantanamo beamed around the world showed shackled prisoners being kept in cages.
**Medical test***
Police said the four arrested would be given medical examinations to ensure they were fit to be detained and would be interviewed at a central London police station. They would be allowed to make a phone call and speak to a lawyer.
"Four (of the men)...were arrested," Peter Clarke, head of Britain's anti-terror police, told reporters. "Each man will be interviewed by officers from the anti-terrorist branch."
U.S. authorities say that of 100 inmates released from Guantanamo, 88 were allowed to go free in their home countries, while 12 were kept in detention -- four in Saudi Arabia, seven in Russia and one in Spain.
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A police convoy arrives at Paddington Green police station in central London, carrying four Britons jailed for more than two years at the U.S. Guantanamo base in Cuba, March 9, 2004. (Toby Melville/Reuters)