LONDON -- Three longtime British residents held in the U.S. prison camps at Guantánamo Bay returned to Britain on Wednesday and two were arrested on suspicion of preparing terrorist acts, police said.

Jamil el Banna, 45, of Jordan, Libyan-born Omar Deghayes, 38, and Abdennour Sameur, 34, of Algeria, landed at Luton airport, north of London, at about 1900 GMT, said Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer for the British legal charity Reprieve, which has assisted the men.

Police said officers accompanying the three arrested Deghayes and Sameur under the Terrorism Act shortly before their chartered aircraft landed. They were arrested on suspicion of preparing acts of terrorism and taken to a London police station for questioning, police said.

Banna was detained, but not arrested, and was taken to a police station in Bedfordshire county, north of London, police said. Police can hold people entering Britain for up to eight hours and take fingerprints and DNA samples.

(In Washington, the Pentagon had yet to confirm on Wednesday evening that it had completed the transfer mission and sent the men away from the remote U.S.-run prison camps at the Navy base in southeast Cuba.

The last reported transfer, Dec. 12, said 13 detainees were sent to Afghanistan and two to Sudan, dropping the Defense Department detention center census to ``approximately 290.'')

The three men had agreed to ''voluntary security arrangements,'' lawyer Stafford Smith said. He said the terms of their return prevented him from providing further details about the arrangements involved.

The Home Office said the men's return ``doesn't imply a commitment on our part that they can stay in the U.K.''

A spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with department policy, said officials would immediately review the immigration status of the former detainees.

The United States refused to release two other British residents, Saudi-born Shaker Aamer and Ethiopian national Binyam Mohamed, and they will remain at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said last week.

The BBC had earlier reported that Aamer would go to his native Saudi Arabia under a separate deal.

Five British citizens were freed from Guantánamo in March 2004 and four in January 2005, according to Britain's Foreign Office.

The newly released men had been held without charge or trial at Guantánamo for more than four years.

Their release follows appeals made to the United States after Gordon Brown's appointment as British prime minister in June. His predecessor, Tony Blair, had said he would not intervene on behalf of British residents held at the detention camp.

''I'm extremely relieved that Omar's ordeal is finally coming to end after over five years of suffering in Guantánamo,'' said Amani Deghayes, sister of Omar Deghayes.

Amani Deghayes said her brother was completely innocent and criticized the U.S. government for failing to bring him to trial.

In January, Banna's 8-year-old son Anas sent a letter to Blair, pleading for his father's release.

''Every night I think of my dad and I cry in a very low voice so that my mother doesn't hear, and I dream that he is coming home and gives me a big, big hug,'' he wrote.

Moazzam Begg, a British citizen who was released from Guantánamo in January 2005, said the men should be left to live in peace and face no further restrictions on their movements.

In April, another British resident, 37-year-old Iraqi national Bisher al Rawi, was released from the camp after five years in detention. British officials took up his case after it was disclosed he had assisted MI5, Britain's domestic spy agency.

Banna, released on Wednesday, was arrested with Rawi by Gambian authorities in November 2002 and transferred to U.S. detention. Amnesty International said Deghayes, who was released, and Aamer, who was not, were captured in Pakistan in 2002.

Reprieve claims Mohamed -- one of the men not released -- was held in Morocco for 18 months after being captured in April 2002 in Pakistan and later sent to Guantánamo. Amnesty International said the circumstances of Sameur's detention were not immediately clear.

Associated Press writers David Stringer, Raphael G. Satter and Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@