Jamil Abdul Latif el-Banna (Arabic: جميل عبد اللطيف البنا, Ǧamīl ʿAbdu 'l-Laṭīf al-Bannāʾ), born (1962-05-28) 28 May 1962 (age 62), is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin, with refugee status in the United Kingdom, who had been living in north-west London.
[6] Following his release, and subsequent return to the United Kingdom, Jamil el-Banna was arrested and questioned when arriving in London, on charges by a Spanish court.
The two men, along with two others, were taken into custody by the National Intelligence Agency on their arrival at Banjul International Airport in the Gambia on 8 November 2002, purportedly on suspicion of alleged links to al-Qaeda, and advice from British security authorities.
[citation needed] The two men were illegally 'rendered' to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where Jamil el-Banna was imprisoned underground in total darkness for weeks.
[11] Once in the main area of the airbase prison, he met Moazzam Begg, a British citizen whose bookshop he had visited in England.
[12] In March 2003, Jamil and Bisher al-Rawi were transferred to United States military custody at Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
[citation needed] The Guardian reported that Clive Stafford Smith, Jamil el-Banna's lawyer, said his client had participated in both the hunger strike that ended when the camp authorities made promises on 28 July 2005, and a second that started on 8 August.
Stafford Smith said that Jamil told him that one of the reasons for the second hunger strike was that guards were still searching through the prisoner's copies of the Qur'an by hand.
[13] A December 2005 article in The Times repeated Jamil's claim that his American interrogators told him that MI5 had colluded in his extraordinary rendition.
[citation needed] The Times reported material from Stafford Smith's notes on conversations with his client, which were recently declassified: In Cuba, one interrogator is alleged to have told el-Banna: "Why are you angry at America?
It is not known why this concession was made, although el-Banna's MP, Sarah Teather, had previously asked US authorities to allow some contact.
[16][17] According to the Associated Press, Beckett issued a statement to Parliament: We have now agreed with the U.S. authorities that Mr. al-Rawi will be returned to the U.K. shortly, as soon as the practical arrangements have been made.
[17] The cases of Jamil el-Banna and other former British legal residents have been controversial within the UK, as there was growing public sentiment for the government to seek their release.
On 7 August 2007, the United Kingdom government requested the release of Jamil el-Banna and four other foreign nationals who had been legal British residents.
[citation needed] On his return, Omar Deghayes was also arrested and questioned, before appearing in court on a Spanish extradition warrant.
[citation needed] On 6 March 2008, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon dropped the extradition request on humanitarian grounds.
[21][22][23] el-Banna and the other three men: Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, Lahcen Ikassrien, and Omar Deghayes, had previously faced charges in Spanish courts, based on confessions they made while in US custody.