Paphos People

Poor UK muslim man who got lost in Afghanistan was caught asking the Taleban for directions to Primark.
What bad luck.

Insensitive and risible comments from you as usual.

The issue here is that the yanks dropped all charges against him in 2007, but have only just released him. That is 8 years in prison as an innocent man. Any other country doing that would be soundly condemned by all right thinking people. However, being the USA, normal rules don't apply.

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein

Innocent?

He was detained crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan with a forged Belgian passport. The 'charity' he was working for was a front for Al Qaeda. He was lauded by fellow inmates as an important Al Qaeda recruiter. He is a Saudi citizen and could have returned to Saudi years ago, but refused.

He is not a British citizen and it was not the British who incarcerated him, but it was the British tax payer who paid for his private jet flight from Cuba and it will be the British tax payer who will be funding his compensation package.

The only scandal is why he was not charged and put on trial.

Surely the first line of you post should be:

Innocent until proven guilty?

I don't know if the security services have had access to the "facts" that you have quoted, but if they did, why wasnt this man charged with anything?

The overarching fact is that this man is a British resident with a British wife and children. We should be proud that our great country stands by its moral obligations to its citizens.

The security services were certainly aware of these facts (and others), and the question is indeed why he wasn't charged, but it was the Americans who detained him and it was up to them to charge him. He may have had a British wife and children, but he was not British - just someone who had lived in Britain for a time before getting involved Islamic conflicts. There are plenty of sources and comment away from the mainstream press that you might wish to view before you jumping to any conclusions - start with http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/25/shaker-aamer-was-qaeda-recruiter-says-former-fellow-detainee.html and much more recent https://www.lawfareblog.com/shaker-aamer-goes-free-great-win-im-not-sure-what and http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/10/shaker-aamer-genuine-jihadist-or-an-innocent-abroad/. This last link largely reflects my own skepticism.

They sure saw you coming

Read KGs reply Above

Just so I've got this straight.........

A Saudi national, a self confessed Jihadist, living in Pakistan, gets caught by Americans in Afghanistan commiting a crime [for which he isn't charged] and then illegally detained by those same Americans in Cuba on suspicion of committing another, more serious crime, for which they don't have the required standard of proof . During his detention British intelligence operatives observe sections of his interrogation as they pertain to his activities whilst living in the UK, and any activities of his wife [a British National, who had chosen to become an Afghani and then Pakistani resident].

On his release, he is returned not to his chosen country of residence [Pakistan] but rather to Britain, where he sues for his illegal detention, not the country that detained him [America] the country where he was detained [technically Cuba] the country where he was originally held illegally [Afghanistan], his country of residence for not protecting his rights as a resident [Pakistan], or the country that failed to protect his rights as a citizen as they should have done [Saudi Arabia], but instead one of the countries that may have observed his interrogation but were however neither responsible for his detention, nor had any standing or responsibility to prevent it.

In order to prevent a trial and to protect the identities of their intelligence operatives, the UK government are most likely to offer a 1m+ out of court settlement.

Yep, makes perfect sense to me.

And there are thousands of Afghanis, Iraqis, and Somalis etc., trying to get from France to the UK illegally because they believe the UK is a soft touch.

Can't think where they could possibly have got that idea from

It seems that there are no prizes for being a British National living in their own home country.

All the big prizes go to the 'British Residents' who seem to be able to somehow manage to take advantage of every facility free of charge as long as they have an 'address in Uk' to quote on any application for financial benefits.

Now what have the anti Bassman bleaters got to say?

You and Peter G will now be called racist.

The UK is fast becoming the Dust Bin of the world, we'll take owt in.

False passport, False charity. in a war zone under false pretences.
Not a British citizen.

Whew, well that's alright then. Non British so he will be sure to get the compensation fast tracked to him. Makes yer proud to be British don't it??????

They all saw us coming.

IF he is innocent, then he deserves every penny, however........... no smoke without fire seems appropriate to me on this one.

Still, I'm sure the bill will be sent to the Yanks, not to worry - yeeeaaaahhhh right!

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I'll be back!

The part that I don't understand is why is it of concern to the UK isn't he a Saudi?

Who paid for his family's upkeep whilst he went on his jaunt to Afghanistan?

Who will be paying for his and his family's up keep now he's back in the UK?

Hi Bassman63,
I'm guessing your question is rhetorical?

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I'll be back!

The idea is to make people start questioning all this UK involvement.
Why did he not go to Saudi Arabia now that he has been shown to be an undesirable?