Lawyer to visit Guantanamo trio

Almost 600 detainees are held at Guantanamo

An American lawyer has been given permission to visit some of the men with UK links held in Guantanamo Bay.

Brent Mickum is representing Briton Martin Mubanga and former UK residents Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna.

It will be the first time they have had access to legal representation in the two years they have been held there.

Mr Mickum told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was concerned about reports former refugee Mr el-Banna was in a "very bad way" psychologically.

A report by three Britons released from the US camp in Cuba earlier this month said Mr el-Banna had been so traumatised by his experiences in captivity that "mentally, basically, he's finished".

It also suggested his physical health was poor, Mr Mickum told Today.

We don't know the charges against any of these people Brent Mickum

"We filed an immediate motion to get medical access to him and release his medical records," he added.

That had not happened, although the US government had released a medical evaluation saying Mr el-Banna had lost a lot of weight but was "essentially in good health", Mr Mickum told the programme.

Meanwhile, Mr Mubanga's sister, Kathleen, had told Mr Mickum that the 29-year-old, from north London, had been visited by British officials within the past month.

"He is bitter but seems reasonably well," the lawyer added.

Mr Mickum dismissed as a "charade" tribunals being held to decide whether individual detainees had been classified correctly as "enemy combatants".

Enemy combatants

"We don't know the charges against any of these people," he told Today.

The Pentagon says suspects deemed enemy combatants, not prisoners of war, can be held indefinitely without charges.

The tribunals, which have been running for two weeks, were instigated after the US Supreme Court ruled that the prisoners could challenge their detentions.

They are the first opportunity that any of the 600 detainees, who have been held without trial or access to lawyers for more than two years, have had to plead their cases.

The hearings involve panels of three officers charged with deciding whether individuals have been classified correctly as "enemy combatants".

Eleven of the 21 prisoners reviewed so far have refused to take part, according to the official overseeing the reviews.