List of British detainees at Guantanamo Bay

The United States Department of Defense held a total of nine British detainees at Guantanamo Bay detention camp. An additional nine detainees were citizens of other nations who had been granted permanent residency status in the United Kingdom.

Shaker Aamer, the last British resident released from Guantanamo

A total of 778 suspects have been held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba since the camps opened on January 11, 2002. The camp population peaked in 2004 at approximately 660. Only nineteen new suspects, all "high value detainees" have been transferred there since the United States Supreme Court's ruling in Rasul v. Bush. As of December 2023, 30 detainees remain at Guantanamo Bay.[1]

Five British citizens were repatriated in March 2004, including friends known as the Tipton Three, prior to the start of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. Shafiq Rasul had been party to a major court challenge under a habeas corpus petition challenging his detention. In Rasul v. Bush (2004), the US Supreme Court ruled that detainees had the right to challenge their detention before an impartial tribunal, one of the first of several landmark cases related to operations at Guantanamo.

All British citizens and residents have been repatriated from Guantanamo. Shaker Aamer was the last British resident to be released, landing on British soil on October 30, 2015.[2]

British citizens held at Guantanamo Bay

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isn name notes
24

Feroz Abbasi

  • CSRT highly acrimonious.
  • Tribunal told him international law did not apply to him.
  • Released
86 Shafiq Rasul
  • Released.[3]
  • Rasul v. Bush (2004) heard by SCOTUS, determined that detainees had the right of an impartial tribunal to hear their challenge to detention
  • Alleged abuse.[4]
87 Asif Iqbal
  • Released.[3]
  • Alleged abuse.[4]
110 Ruhal Ahmed
  • Released.[3]
  • Alleged abuse.[4]
490 Jamal Udeen Al-Harith
534 Tarek Dergoul
558 Moazzam Begg
  • Following his release, Begg wrote a book about his detention, entitled Enemy Combatant.[5] He has founded Cageprisoners, an organization representing detainees and helping those who have been released to re-integrate into society.
701 Jamal Abdullah Kiyemba
  • Joint citizen of the UK and Uganda.
817 Richard Dean Belmar
  • Released.
10007 Martin Mubanga

References

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  1. ^ "The Guantánamo Docket". The New York Times. 11 December 2023. Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  2. ^ Savage, Charlie (October 30, 2015). "Shaker Aamer Is Released From Guantánamo Prison After 13 Years". The New York Times. New York.
  3. ^ a b c Five of nine Britons released from Guantanamo Bay, BBC, March 9, 2004
  4. ^ a b c Britons allege Guantanamo abuse, BBC, August 4, 2004
  5. ^ Yasmin Alibhai-Brown (24 March 2006). "Review of "Enemy Combatant"". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 12 March 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
  6. ^ "Guantanamo man 'suing government'". BBC News. 6 February 2005. Retrieved 19 April 2012.
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