2 British Detainees Will Not Face Death Penalty

The Pentagon said Wednesday that it would not seek the death penalty in any military trial of two British subjects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and it confirmed a Monday statement by Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill that an Australian national would similarly be protected.

The announcement followed the opening of separate talks this week between the Defense Department’s top legal officer and representatives of Britain and Australia, which have complained of legal restrictions in such trials and a possible death penalty for conviction of major crimes.

President Bush on July 3 designated six foreign captives eligible to be tried before U.S. military commissions. Although he identified none of them, the two Britons and the Australian’s names were released in their own countries.

“Among other things, the U.S. assured the U.K. that the prosecution had reviewed the evidence against Feroz Abbasi and Moazzam Begg, and that based on the evidence, if charged, the prosecution would not seek the death penalty in either case,” a Pentagon statement said Wednesday.

“Additionally, the circumstances of their cases are such that they would not warrant monitoring of conversations between them and their defense counsels,” the statement added.

The same assurances were given to Australia regarding David Hicks, who is held along with Abbasi and Begg and more than 600 other detainees, most of them at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo. Most were arrested in Afghanistan.

Human rights groups have said rules for the expected commission trials set by the Pentagon are biased toward the prosecution, place unacceptable conditions on the defense and allow for no independent judicial review by civilian courts.

None of the terrorism war captives has been charged with any crime, and the U.S. has made no final decision on whether any of the six designated so far by Bush as “eligible” for commissions will be tried.