Jamil Is Coming Home At Last - Teather

4.10.12pm GMT Tue 7th Aug 2007

Sarah took Jamil el-Banna's family to Downing Street to ask Gordon Brown for help

Following a four year campaign, local Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather has welcomed the news that her constituent Jamil el-Banna is finally to be released from Gunatanamo Bay.

Sarah, who set up the All Party Parliamentary Group on Guantanamo Bay to campaign for Jamil, said:

"This is fantastic news and a tremendous relief for Jamil's family here in London. Jamil's youngest daughter will be meeting her dad for the first time. They have shown incredible bravery, strength and determination.

"This decision should have been taken years ago. Abandoning British residents to indefinite imprisonment in obscene conditions was a gross dereliction of duty by the Government.

"Guantanamo Bay is an insult to democracy and a violation of the principles the war on terror purports to defend. Many questions remain over the Government's complicity in the abduction and imprisonment of Jamil.

"But today is a time for celebration that, for these British residents and their families, the horror of Guantanamo is now almost over."

Leader of the Liberal Democrats Menzies Campbell added:

"This is a belated recognition of our moral responsibility towards these men.

"Up to now the Government's attitude has been supine in the face of systematic violation of all known legal principles.

"It has been left to opposition MPs to make the case for their return to the UK."