04/07/2003

US to try two Britons over terror links

President Bush has given the go-ahead for six al Qaeda internees in Guantanamo Bay – two of whom are British – to be tried by a military tribunal.

The British pair have been identified as 35-year-old Moazzam Begg, from Birmingham, and 27-year-old Feroz Abbasi, from Croydon.

In a statement today the US government described the six as "enemy combatants", saying that the President had "determined that there is reason to believe that each of these enemy combatants was a member of al Qaeda or was otherwise involved in terrorism directed against the United States".

The US defense department went further, saying that there was evidence that the individuals "may have attended terrorist training camps and may have been involved in such activities as: financing al-Qaida, providing protection for Osama bin Laden, and recruiting future terrorists".

The defense department has pledged to conduct "full and fair trials" through the military commissions board if and when the charges are finalised.

(GMcG)

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