With his long grey hair and white beard, Jamil el-Banna looked much older than his 45 years yesterday as he tasted freedom for the first time since his return from Guantanamo Bay.

Mr el-Banna was released on bail by a judge pending a legal fight against extradition to Spain on allegations that he belonged to a terrorist cell linked to the September 11 attacks. He had been held on a European arrest warrant, issued within hours of his return to Britain from the American internment camp, and brought before City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

Lawyers for the Spanish Government alleged that Mr el-Banna was a member the Islamic Alliance, allied to al-Qaeda, and should stand trial in Madrid. If extradited and convicted, he could be jailed for up to 15 years.

District Judge Timothy Workman released Mr el-Banna on stringent bail conditions stipulating that he reside at his home address in Dollis Hill, northwest London, observe a curfew and wear an electronic tag.

The actress Vanessa Redgrave provided surety for half the £50,000 bail for Mr el-Banna and a further £15,000 as surety for the bail of Omar Deghayes, 37, who followed Mr el-Banna into the dock. Mr el-Banna, a Jordanian-Palestinian, emerged from court to thank the tens of thousands of Britons who had campaigned for his release from Camp Delta. “Thank you very much everybody, my solicitor, the British people, the British Government for your help,” he said. “I’m tired. I want to go home and see my children.”

Until he arrived home to an emotional family reunion, Mr el-Banna had never seen his youngest child, a daughter. His wife was pregnant when he was picked up by the CIA, after an MI5 tip-off, in The Gambia in November 2002.

Next into the dock was Omar Deghayes, 37, from Brighton, who was also freed from Guantanamo Bay and is wanted by Spain. Mr Deghayes, a Libyan, was also freed on £50,000 bail until the next hearing on January 9.

The third Guantanamo Bay detainee who returned to Britain on Wednesday, Abdennour Sameur, 34, an Algerian, was released without charge after being held overnight at Paddington Green high-security police station. His lawyers said that he had agreed voluntarily to abide by security conditions requested by the Government.

The requests for Mr el-Banna and Mr Deghayes were made by Judge Baltasar Garzón, who had previously sought the extradition of the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.

He alleges that Mr el-Banna and Mr Deghayes were part of a cell led by Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas. Yarkas is serving a sentence in Spain for his links to the September 11 atrocities in 2001. His group had links with Abu Qatada, the extremist London-based cleric, said to have been a friend of Mr el-Banna. In a decree issued in Madrid, Judge Garzón wrote that Spain required the men’s extradition “without delay” because they had worked with Yarkas to “support and recruit members to send to military training camps in Afghanistan”.

Melanie Cumberland, for the Spanish Government, told the court that Mr el-Banna was part of the terrorist cell between 1996 and 2001. She added: “He received and distributed extremist propaganda, some of which had been produced by Osama bin Laden. The cell sent funds to Afghanistan to finance the aims of the organisation, sometimes using human carriers or other means.”

Miss Cumberland said that Mr el-Banna had a conviction for credit-card fraud in 1998. He first came to Britain illegally in 1994 on a false Kuwaiti passport and was granted indefinite leave to remain.

Edward Fitzgerald, QC, for Mr el-Banna, said that there was “not a shred of evidence” in the Spanish warrant. He said that a US administrative review board had conducted an exhaustive investigation into his client in Guantanamo Bay and concluded that he was no threat to the US or its allies. MI6 had concluded that Mr el-Banna was not enough of a threat to require the imposition of a control order.

Applying for bail, Mr Fitzgerald said that there was no prospect of Mr el-Banna absconding. “After five years of hell in a situation which was a gross violation of all his rights under international law, having finally come back to this country, there is no possible reason for him to leave this jurisdiction.”

Prisoners

January 11, 2002 First prisoners arrive at Guantanamo Bay camp. Omar Deghayes, who fled persecution in Libya as a young man, is among the first British prisoners to arrive after his arrest in Pakistan in 2001

2003 Jamil el-Banna, Jordanian refugee and British resident, is flown to Guantanamo Bay from Afghanistan after arrest in The Gambia

March 19, 2004 Five British detainees are released

August 2007 The British Government requests the release of five other British residents

December 19 Two released men, Omar Deghayes and Jamil el-Banna are arrested on Spanish extradition warrants after returning to UK

December 20 Mr el-Banna and Mr Deghayes are released on bail pending a legal fight against their extradition to Spain. Abdenour Sameur is released without charge

Source: Times database

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