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Cleared Iraqi fromLondon is last US prisoner in Baghdad camp
Ed Harris29 Apr 2009
A businessman from south London is the last detainee from Britain to be held by US forces in Iraq, it emerged today.
Kadhum al-Sarraj, originally from Iraq, is a prisoner in the notorious Camp Cropper detention centre on the outskirts of Baghdad, even though a court has ordered that he should be freed.
Mr Sarraj, who sells medical equipment, may have to stay behind bars after the US military said its intelligence "still considers him a threat".
The 29-year-old has been held for seven months, dressed like his 3,300 fellow detainees in a bright yellow jumpsuit. His wife, Shereen Nasser, 25, a British citizen, has fought to free him since he was arrested on a work trip.
Mrs Nasser travelled from the couple's home in Carshalton earlier this month after an Iraqi court dismissed all terror-related charges against him. His release was ordered and she flew to Baghdad with her father.
But she will return home this week empty-handed because the release process will take more time.
The detainees in the camp, at which Saddam Hussein was held, include suspected al Qaeda operatives.
The US is holding more than 12,000 prisoners in Iraq, most without charge.
Mrs Nasser, speaking from a hotel in the Iraqi capital, told The Times: "It is very difficult to try to do anything here. It is like hitting your head against a brick wall."
She said the couple have no idea when his ordeal will end.
Mr Sarraj moved to Britain last year on a spousal visa to settle. He travelled back to Iraq in September, intending to work for a final month before starting his new life in London.
He was arrested as he arrived at an airport in northern Iraq because the US military had put his name on a wanted list after finding his fingerprints on a device allegedly discovered with some weapons in a house in Baghdad.
Mrs Nasser says the machine was a medical monitor used to measure heartbeats that was stolen from her husband's home two years earlier.
Mr Sarraj appeared before an Iraqi judge earlier this month but did not know that his release had been ordered until his wife told him on a visit to the facility.
Mrs Nasser said. "It is stressful to be in such a situation, knowing that you have not done anything wrong.
"We have no idea when he will be released because no one will tell us anything."
She added: "The Americans will behave the way they want to behave and will do what they want when they want."
Major Neal Fisher, a military spokesman, said Mr Sarraj would be processed for release "in the order that his threat classification dictates".
A Foreign Office spokeswoman told the paper: "Ultimately, the timing of his release is a matter for the Iraqi and US authorities."
Tom Brake, Mrs Nasser's local MP, has taken up her campaign. "This is the only case of its nature," said Mr Brake, the Liberal Democrat member for Carshalton and Wallington.
Reader views (2)
UK has agreed to accept terrorists prisoners from Guantanamo according to U.S. News ,no report of it in UK though? If true has Brown gone completely mad?
- E.Reed, Bournemouth,UK, 30/04/2009 08:23
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".. businessman .."?
Is that what we are calling them now?
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 29/04/2009 13:52
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