Feroz Abbasi (born 1979) is one of nine British men who were held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.
Abbasi was born in 1979 in Entebbe, Uganda to a Pakistani father and a Nubian mother (her Grandfather was from South Sudan)[1]later immigrated to the United Kingdom.
They allege that he volunteered to participate in suicide operations and met Osama bin Laden, the founder and leader of al-Qaeda, three times.
When he was captured by the Afghan Northern Alliance, they claim he had hand grenades strapped to his legs and was carrying a military radio.
They referred to him as "the SAS guy" to his extensive training,[3] and shipped him to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
The British Court of Appeal said it found his detention at Guantanamo "legally objectionable", but stopped short of forcing the government to intervene on his behalf.
Subsequently, Abbasi proceeded to sue the U.S. government, stating in an interview that "they had made his life hell" and left him with everlasting mental issues.
His mother, his Member of Parliament (MP) Geraint Davies[4], and human rights lawyers and organisations worked against the US internment and military tribunal process.
They also called on the British government to put greater pressure on their US counterparts to improve the tribunal process, detention conditions, and access for the family and lawyers.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced that the remaining Britons in Guantanamo Bay who were originally with Feroz Abbasi, would be returned to Britain "within weeks" after "intensive and complex discussions" with the US government.
On 25 January 2005, the remaining Britons were flown back to the United Kingdom by an RAF aircraft.
The BBC learned that Abbasi and Martin Mubanga had received letters from the British government telling them that they would not be allowed passports.
The British government suggested they were likely to take part in action against UK or allied targets if they left Britain.
It was unclear whether the evidence was gathered in Guantanamo, where their lawyer has alleged Abbasi and Mubanga suffered torture, or whether this measure was part of the conditions agreed with the US government for their release.
Feroz Abbasi continued: "On the basis that the tribunal can actually hold me here in incarceration or release me, I would consider this a criminal proceeding."
It is my duty as a Muslim to warn all who are involved in this matter that they are personally responsible for their actions at all times before Allah.
[6] The American magazine Mother Jones provided excerpts from the transcripts of a selection of the Guantanamo detainees.
What matters here and I am concerned about and what I really want to get to is your status as enemy combatant based upon the evidence that has been provided and your actions while you were in Afghanistan.