US: Five Britons to be freed from the US Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba should come back next week, but mystery over the details of their return and future fate is a further outrage, relatives and lawyers said yesterday.
"This is just another cruelty on top of the already existing catalogue," said Mr Robert Lizar, lawyer for the sisters of returning UK detainee Mr Jamal al Harif.
At an emotional news conference in parliament, the relatives and legal representatives said they had heard vaguely the five would be back "very soon", but had no official confirmation.
Neither did they know whether the five held without trial at the naval base - used from early 2002 to cage suspected combatants in Afghanistan or people with alleged links to al Qaeda - would return to their homes or face terror charges.
"The fact the Foreign Office cannot tell us the time, place or manner of their releases is a complete outrage, after they have spent two years in conditions amounting to torture," said Mr Greg Powell, lawyer for the family of detainee Mr Rhuhel Ahmed.
Ms Maxine Fiddler, sister of Mr al Harif, said it was agony not knowing when he would be home or what would happen afterwards.
UK anti-terror police have launched their own investigation into the five. But Home Office Minister David Blunkett has already hinted they may be released immediately by saying none of them posed a security threat.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed the five would "probably" be back next week, but would not give more details.
While families of those five remain upset, relatives of another four Britons left behind at Guantanamo feel worse.
A weeping Mr Azmet Begg, whose son, Moazzam, is among them, said he had had a letter from him detailing prolonged mistreatment, starting with his detention at Bagram air base in Afghanistan. "He was kept like an animal, not given proper food, his clothes were torn, he did not see any natural light for one year - no sun, no moon, no sky," he said. "Now I have not heard from him for a long time. I do not know if he is dead or alive."