6 March 2008

MADRID - High Court Judge Baltasar Garzón on Wednesday shelved a case against two former inmates of the US prison camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after receiving medical reports from British authorities declaring them unfit to stand trial.

British residents Omar Deghayes, a 38-year-old Libyan national, and Jamil El Banna, a 45-year-old Jordanian, were handed over to Britain by US authorities in December having spent seven and six years respectively at Guantánamo. British officials said that upon their return their poor physical and mental health made them unfit for trial.

Garzón had requested that Britain extradite the two on charges of conspiring to commit terrorist attacks in relation to the dismantling of a Spanish Al Qaeda cell in 2001. The case led to the conviction of Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the cell leader with whom they allegedly had contact.

[Copyright EL PAÍS / JOSÉ YOLDI 2008]