Guantanamo men win right to sue captors

Four British citizens released from the US prison camp at the Guantanamo Bay naval base have won the right to sue their captors for violation of their religious rights.

The four - Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Shafiq Rasul from Tipton, in the West Midlands, and Jamal al-Harith, from Manchester - have spent the past two years pursuing a wide array of complaints against the Pentagon and their military captors, including allegations of physical and mental abuse as well as affronts to their Muslim faith.

This, though, marked the first time that a significant legal decision has gone in their favour.

A potentially ground-breaking ruling from a federal judge in Washington rejected the US government's argument that Guantanamo, on the southeastern end of Cuba, is beyond the jurisdiction of the US civilian courts.

Instead, District Judge Ricardo Urbina said that the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies to all territories and possessions of the United States.

Judge Urbina has previously ruled against the so-called Tipton Three and Mr al-Harith, but on this occasion he pointed to the special place accorded to religious practice under the US Constitution, and said the allegations against the US military posed a "direct affront to one of this nation's most cherished constitutional traditions".

The plaintiffs allege, among other things, that they were forced to shave their beards, grown for religious reasons, endured taunting from guards about their adherence to Islam, and was forced to watch as a copy of the Koran were thrown into a toilet.

"Flushing the Koran down the toilet and forcing Muslims to shave their beards falls comfortably within the conduct prohibited from government action," Judge Uriba said.

His decision was issued on Monday but only widely publicised yesterday.

The alleged toilet-flushing episode has caused considerable consternation in the United States since the accusation first surfaced.

An official Pentagon inquiry completed last year would not confirm that the episode took place.

The inquiry nevertheless found that a soldier urinated on a copy of the Koran - supposedly by accident - among a number of other lapses.

The Tipton Three were arrested in Afghanistan during the war there in 2001, and transferred to Guantanamo where they remained without charge until their release and return to Britain in March 2004.

Mr al-Harith was, by his own account, abducted by the Taleban in Pakistan and held as a suspected British spy.

After the Taleban was overthrown, he fell into US custody and was also transferred to Guantanamo.

Together, the four are demanding $10 million in damages from Donald Rumsfeld, the US Secretary of Defence, and 10 top military commanders.

- INDEPENDENT