British terror suspect freed
LONDON, England -- A terror suspect known as "C" has been freed after being held without trial for more than three years, British government sources were reported as saying Tuesday.
News of the release of the suspect -- an Egyptian national -- comes a day after another suspect, Palestinian Mahmoud Abu Rideh, was granted bail.
British Home Secretary Charles Clarke was expected to make a statement about the release of "C" in the House of Commons, the UK's Press Association reported.
"C" and Abu Rideh were among a dozen foreign nationals held indefinitely without charge or trial under controversial anti-terrorism legislation rushed through shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
"C" was detained in December 2001. In 2003, an independent appeals panel said the government had "reasonable grounds" to suspect that "C" had a "senior leadership role in the Egyptian Islamic Jihad in the United Kingdom."
His solicitor, Natalia Garcia, said the decision to release her client was a surprise.
"It came completely out of the blue," she told BBC radio.
"We were in the court ... (Monday) morning where we heard the solicitor of the home secretary say that the only conditions of release he would accept would be house arrest, and then by late afternoon I got a phone call to say that my client was about to be released with no conditions at all.
"By 7 o'clock in the evening he was a completely free man. It is completely bizarre. We were given no indication in court that this was going to happen.
"In effect the home secretary has now admitted that 'C' is no danger to anyone at all, which is what we've said from the very beginning, but it has taken three years and his life has been decimated in the meantime."
She said that she had only been able to speak to "C" briefly since his release.
"He was delighted to be released but very perplexed and confused about the whole situation and couldn't understand why he had been interned for three years on the basis of nothing at all and suddenly released," she said.
On Monday, Abu Rideh was granted bail by the Special Immigration Appeals Commission, a spokesman told CNN. But the Home Office said he would not be freed until bail conditions were worked out. (Full story)
Abu Rideh, who was born in Jordan to stateless Palestinian parents, traveled to Britain in 1995 and was given refugee status three years later, according to court documents seen by Reuters.
He was arrested in December 2001. Then-Home Secretary David Blunkett said Abu Rideh was "an active supporter of various terrorist groups, including those with links to Osama bin Laden's terrorist network."
Abu Rideh was held after his arrest at Belmarsh prison in southeast London but was transferred due to psychiatric problems to Broadmoor Hospital, a top security unit near London, according to PA.
This week's developments come just days after Clarke said detention of terror suspects without trial in Britain would be replaced with a system of "control orders." (Full story)
Clarke revealed plans last Wednesday for what could amount to a form of house arrest a month after Britain's top court ruled against the continued detention of nine of the 12 foreign terrorist suspects held without trial.
