UK will not seek release of residents from Guantanamo

LONDON, Apr 25 (Reuters) Britain will not press for the release of British residents held at Guantanamo Bay prison even though it helped win the freedom of an Iraqi citizen who lives in Britain, Prime Minister Tony Blair today said.

The US government last month released Bisher al-Rawi, who had been held for more than four years at the prison camp after the British government intervened on his behalf.

But Blair said his government would not lobby for the release of other Guantanamo inmates who, like al-Rawi, were residents of Britain but not nationals.

Sarah Teather, an opposition Liberal Democrat member of parliament, is campaigning for the release from Guantanamo Bay of al-Rawi's business partner, Jordanian Jamil el-Banna, who was arrested with him in Gambia in 2002.

She asked Blair if the al-Rawi case did not expose the inconsistency of the British government's position that it can not intervene on behalf of British residents in Guantanamo.

''No, I don't agree with that and it's very important we do not take on responsibility for people who are not British citizens in those circumstances,'' Blair told parliament.

''Though we've made clear our desire to see Guantanamo close and make sure the people are subject to a proper trial there, I think it is always important to remember that those people who have been there -- there have been real issues about them and their conduct over a period of time,'' he said.

Britain has already secured the release of all nine of its citizens who were held at Guantanamo. None were charged with any crime. Nine others who were British residents but not citizens are still held there.

Edward Davey, a British lawmaker who took up al-Rawi's case, said in January al-Rawi and el-Banna had been handed over to the US Central Intelligence Agency after their arrest and taken to Afghanistan before being sent to Guantanamo.

The British government has denied Davey's accusation that Britain's MI5 intelligence agency was complicit in their arrest.

The United States has faced strong international criticism over the indefinite detention of terrorism suspects at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay. The United States has said it intends to try 60 to 80 of the 385 foreign captives there.

REUTERS ABM BD2003