Concern over Guantanamo trio return

Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes and Abdennour Sameur will be returned as soon as arrangements can be made, Foreign Secretary David Miliband told MPs.

Their release follows intensive negotiations since the Government asked over the summer for all the men to be freed - having previously refused to intervene because they were not UK citizens.

Mr Miliband said "full consideration" had been given to the "need to maintain national security" in attempting to secure the release of the men. But shadow home secretary David Davis said their release "leaves unanswered key questions of national security".

The US authorities have refused to release two other UK residents being held in the camp and had "expressed significant additional security concerns" about them.

Mr Miliband said discussions were still taking place about Binyam Mohammed's case. The fifth man, Shaker Aamer, has also been refused release and the Foreign Secretary said the UK was "no longer in active discussions" about his return.

The five men were not UK nationals but had been legally resident in the country before their detention. Mr Miliband added that the UK would continue to work with the US to speed up the closure of Guantanamo Bay.

Mr Davis posed a series of questions for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to answer about the release of the three men. He said: "This statement, quietly released under the cover of the latest Home Office blunder, leaves unanswered key questions of national security.

"We welcome the US Government's efforts towards closing Guantanamo. Equally, this Government's first duty is to protect the public. Does the Home Secretary agree with the US that these men are 'extremely dangerous'? If so how will the Government guarantee the safety of the British public when they return to the UK?"

He questioned whether control orders would be applied for, whether criminal charges could be considered and whether the men would be sent back to their countries of origin.