LONDON – Pentagon officials overseeing the Guantanamo Bay Dention facility have reportedly warned Britain that five terror suspects requested for release have close ties to high-ranking terror targets.
Sandra Hodgkinson, who is in charge of U.S. detention policy, said the suspects require intense surveillance and pose a heightened risk to the U.K., according to a report in the Sunday Times of London.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for the detainees' release earlier this week.
Click Here to Read Sunday Times report.
Hodgkinson detailed the connections of a few of the suspects:
— One of them had been an interpreter for Usama Bin Laden and was funded by the Al Qaeda chief while living in Afghanistan.
— Another detainee had “a long-term association” with Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, the ex-leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
— A third suspect is a “jihadi veteran” with links to a Moroccan terrorist jailed for 18 years over the 2003 Casablanca bombings.
Britain originally refused to take back the men, none of whom are British, but who have residency rights. The reversal has prompted criticism and the new claims will increase pressure on ministers to enforce a tough security regime when the men return.
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