Five Sue Secret Services Over Terror Arrests

FIVE Midland men are set to sue the Secret Services over their imprisonment in Guantanamo Bay.

Moazzam Begg, Richard Belmar, and the so-called ‘Tipton Three’ – Ruhal Ahmed, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal – have issued writs against MI5 and MI6.

It is believed the men are claiming that British security services were complicit in the process leading to their detention.

They are joined by four other men who were also detained in Afghanistan and Pakistan at various times.

They are Omar Deghayes, a Libyan, Jamil el-Banna, a Jordanian – both released last December – and Bisher al-Rawi, an Iraqi, released this year. All three men live in Britain but are foreign nationals.

The so-called ‘Tipton Three’ launched a similar lawsuit two years ago claiming their captors had allegedly violated their religious rights.

The three men, along with another former Guantanamo detainee Jamal Al-Harith from Manchester, demanded pounds 5.4 million in damages from US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and 10 US military commanders.

Their appeal was dismissed by the US Court of Appeal but their American lawyers are believed to be taking the case to the Supreme Court.

Moazzam Begg is one of nine British Muslims who were detained in Guantanamo Bay.

He was released on January 25, 2005, along with fellow detainees Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar, without charge although he received no compensation or apology.

(c) 2008 Sunday Mercury; Birmingham (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.