MI5 'tried to recruit Banna'
- 00:01:26
- ITN
MI5 'tried to recruit Banna'
A British resident in Guantanamo Bay was reportedly approached to become an MI5 informant just days before he was arrested.According to a newspaper, Jamil el-Banna, 44, was taken by the CIA and flown secretly to Guantanamo Bay in 2002 when he embarked on a business trip to Gambia.The paper said it obtained an MI5 document in which an intelligence officer details a visit to Banna's home to attempt to recruit him as an informer.Banna knew Abu Qatada, a cleric accused of being al-Qaeda's spiritual leader in Europe.On Friday, his companion, Bisher al-Rawi, was released without charge after four years in the Cuban detention centre after it emerged he had helped MI5 keep track of Qatada.Banna, a father of five from London, remains incarcerated in Guantanamo. The paper says he was taken to Cuba after MI5 "wrongly" told the Americans his travelling companion was carrying bomb parts on a business trip to Gambia.He was granted refugee status in Britain after arriving in Britain in 1994 alleging he had been tortured in Jordan.His application for British nationality was ongoing at the time he was taken to Guantanamo.The newspaper quotes the report, in which the unnamed intelligence officer tells Banna he has a choice: "To continue with his current life...I meant his association with members of the extremist community and his involvement in criminal activity such as a recent arrest for shoplifting."He could continue as at present, with the risks that entailed, or he could start a new life with a new identity, new nationality, money to set himself up in business...and an opportunity to move to a Muslim country where his children could be brought up away from the bad influences in western society."Banna admits in the conversation with the officer that he had been to Afghanistan after rediscovering Islam and there he met Qatada, who he considered to be a friend.Supporters of Banna demand he is released immediately.A spokeswoman for the Home Office said she could not comment on issues of national security.© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.
ITN | April 4, 2007
