Two Britons held at Guantanamo Bay have admitted supporting al-Qa'ida in a plea bargain deal to secure a short sentence, their lawyers have revealed. Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi, named by President George Bush last month as two of six detainees facing trial, are believed to have agreed to plead guilty under duress after prolonged interrogation and segregation at Camp Delta, Cuba. Clive Stafford Smith, their British-born lawyer in the United States, told The Independent on Sunday the six men were selected to face a military tribunal only because they would admit to supporting terrorism and Osama bin Laden. The Pentagon wanted its first trials to be quick and successful, he said. "They have to agree to plead in order to get this far," Mr Stafford Smith added. "The US wants to have a few guilty pleas, so they're not going to designate people for trial until they've agreed to plead guilty — so you can take it as read that Begg and Abbasi have pleaded guilty."
| Kinda hard to plead otherwise when they were nabbed in Afghanistan with their turbans on and their guns in their hands... |
Louise Christian, the London-based solicitor acting for Mr Abbasi, who is from Croydon, south London, and was captured in Afghanistan in January 2002, confirmed she had been told her client had agreed a deal. "That's what I'm hearing as well," she said. Reports in the US suggested both men were being "rewarded" with a quick trial because they had revealed more details about al-Qa'ida and the Taliban, after months of refusing to co-operate.
| Nobody gives a crap about their worthless carcasses, except for their Moms. The information's the important thing. |
Their parents have reacted with dismay to these disclosures, which follow reports in Australia that David Hicks, an Australian convert to Islam among those "designated" by Mr Bush for trial last month, had also agreed a plea bargain.
| Silling your guts is so much less final than counting muzzle blasts... |
Azmat Begg, whose son Moazzam was arrested by the CIA in Islamabad, Pakistan, in February 2002, said he believed his son had been repeatedly tortured to secure a confession. Suggestions that his son really was a terrorist, he said, were "absolute rubbish" and based on interrogations without any lawyer present. He added: "We've written dozens of times and received no reply. If he's alive and able to, why hasn't he replied?"
| Can't find a pencil? How's Pop know it's "absolute rubbish" if he hasn't communicated with Junior? Mental telepathy? |
Ms Christian said that Zumrati Juma, Mr Abbasi's mother, was "distressed" by the development. After reports that he has suffered a nervous breakdown and attempted suicide, Ms Juma is now anxiously waiting to see a US psychiatric report on her son given to the Foreign Office three weeks ago. Ms Christian said ministers would not release it until "embarrassing" details about his capture and interrogation were deleted from it.
| Pees himself, does he? Sometimes that happens... |
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