Actress pays £25,000 to free Guantanamo inmate
Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave paid half the £50,000 bail for Guantanamo prisoner Jamil el-Banna
Friday December 21 2007
Two suspected al-Qa'ida operatives released from Guantanamo Bay walked free from court yesterday although they are still wanted in Spain in connection with terrorism-related offences.
One of the men, who is accused of distributing extremist propaganda produced by Osama bin Laden, had half of his £50,000 bail met by the Oscar-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave.
Jamil el-Banna (45), who was said during a brief court hearing yesterday to have helped run a cell called the Islamic Alliance, recruiting people to fight jihad in Afghanistan and Indonesia, returned to his London home last night.
The other man, Omar Deghayes (38), a Libyan national allowed into the UK because he once lived there, is said to have had links to the same cell. He was also released on bail.
Spain issued European arrest warrants for both men within hours of their arrival in Britain on Wednesday night from the Cuban detention centre.
Miss Redgrave said: "It is a profound honour to be able to do this. Guantanamo Bay is a concentration camp. It is a disgrace that these men have been kept there all these years.''
But the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court heard yesterday of their alleged links to al-Qa'ida, which raised fresh questions over why the British government interceded on their behalf to allow their return from Guantanamo.
Although the men have been resident in the UK, they are not British citizens. Previously, the government has said it owed them no legal obligations.
Melanie Cumberland, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said el-Banna was a Pakistani who had first come to Britain in 1994 on a false Kuwaiti passport.
He requested asylum and was eventually granted indefinite leave to remain.
Extradited
Miss Cumberland said that after settling in Britain he went to Spain from June 1996 until July 2001, where he helped run an al-Qa'ida cell. If he were extradited, she added, he could be jailed for up to 15 years. He was captured in 2001 by US agents in Gambia, where he said he was setting up a peanut oil factory. They said he was a fund-raiser for Osama bin Laden.
Edward Fitzgerald, for the defence, said there was "not a shred of evidence'' against el-Banna. He claimed Spain's allegation was "unsubstantiated and unevidenced". El-Banna was bailed to return to court on January 8. He is subject to a curfew, must live at his home in Dollis Hill, London and has been electronically tagged.
As he left court, El-Banna said: "Thank you very much everybody, my solicitor, the British people, the British Government for your help. I'm tired. I want to go home and see my children.''
Campaigners for El-Banna's release accused the British authorities of lying about what would happen when he returned to Britain.
The likelihood is that both men will end up being tried in Spain.
Vanessa Redgrave, who helped to free Jamil el-Banna, is one of Britain's best-known actresses who has spent the past 30 years building a reputation as a formidable human rights campaigner.
Among her numerous film credits are 'A Man for All Seasons', 'Howard's End' and 'Mission: Impossible'. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Philip Johnston in London
