By Haroon Siddique
GuardianDecember 19, 2007
Timeline
2002
January 1 The first of hundreds of al-Qaida prisoners arrive at the US military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after a high-security airlift from Afghanistan. Their harsh treatment is condemned by human rights groups.Jan 18 The US president, George Bush, decides detainees are "terrorists" and thereby disqualified from Geneva conventions governing POWs.
Jan 21 British officials confirm three Britons are being held as al-Qaida suspects at Camp X-Ray. Meanwhile, the US allows the Red Cross to establish a permanent presence in the prison.
Jan 22 Donald Rumsfeld describes headlines alleging torture and inhumanity at Camp X-Ray as "utter nonsense". As British MPs' criticisms are put to him he says: "It's amazing the insight parliamentarians can gain from 5,000 miles away."
The EU external relations commissioner, Chris Patten, says the west is in danger of losing the moral high ground if prisoners are mistreated or executed.
Jan 24 Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, says Britons held at Guantánamo Bay should be returned to Britain.
Jan 27 Foreign Office officials confirm two Britons held at Guantánamo, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, are from Tipton, a West Midlands town where the two led largely unexceptional lives.
Jan 28 A third Briton from Tipton is seized in Afghanistan, suspected of fighting alongside Taliban and al-Qaida forces. Like the other two suspects, he was at Alexandra high school and played for Tipton United.
February 3 A fifth Briton, a Manchester website designer, is being held by the US, it is revealed.
Feb 7 George Bush performs a U-turn on Camp X-Ray, dropping his insistence that the Geneva convention should not apply to Taliban soldiers captured in Afghanistan. It still applies to al-Qaida captives and neither group is given POW status.
Feb 21 Federal US judge dismisses challenge to detentions.
Feb 26 The Pentagon admits that despite holding nearly 500 prisoners from the war in Afghanistan, the US has still not identified any that might be suitable candidates for the military tribunals set up after 9/11.
Feb 28 An affidavit sent by the brother of Shafiq Rasul, a British detainee, to Bush, Rumsfeld, and the director of Camp X-Ray, Colonel Terry Carrillo, describes Shafiq as emaciated and unable to bear the heat.
March 1 Camp X-Ray authorities lift a ban on the detainees wearing turbans in an attempt to end a hunger strike.
March 21 New military tribunals for detainees are announced.
2003
26 February Moazzam Begg, from Birmingham, is revealed as a detainee after reportedly being seized in Pakistan.March 11 Federal appeals court rules detainees have no legal rights in US.
July 3 Bush designates six suspected al-Qaida terrorists as eligible for military tribunals, the first since the second world war.
July 18 The US agrees to suspend the threat of military tribunals against the nine Britons being held pending talks with the UK.
November 20 Tony Blair says the fate of British detainees will be settled "soon", following talks with Bush.
November 25 A British law lord, Lord Steyn, condemns the US for a "monstrous failure of justice" and says prisoners at Camp Delta - a larger, newly built prison in Cuba - are being held in "utter lawlessness".
2004
February 19 The Foreign Office announces that five of nine British men are to be released. They are: Ruhal Ahmed, Tarek Dergoul, Jamal Udeen (also known as Jamal Al Harith), Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul.Feb 23 The Bush administration lays the first charges against detainees. Ali Hamza al-Bahlul from Yemen and Ibrahim al-Qosi from Sudan are charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes.
March 10 Dergoul, Rasul, Ahmed, and Iqbal are released without charge and subsequently allege they were abused and humiliated, and in some cases beaten. US military officials deny the claims.
May 14 Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal send an open letter to President Bush detailing alleged abuse. They say guards used strobe lights, dogs and loud rap music to extract information.
June 25 The UK attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, says planned US military tribunals are unacceptable as they will not offer a fair trial.
July 7 Pentagon creates special military panels (Combatant Status Review Tribunals or CSRTs) to determine "enemy combatant" status.
September 8 A military tribunal rules that a Guantánamo prisoner should be freed, although no details about the man are released.
October 16 A New York Times report, quoting sources at the camp, says abuse of inmates is more widespread than Pentagon admits.
Oct 27 Four former British detainees sue the US government. In the first action of its kind, Rasul, Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed and al-Harith each demand £5.5m, alleging torture and other human rights violations. A Pentagon official says the claims are false and the men are not entitled to a payout because they were captured "in combat".
2005
Jan 25 Martin Mubanga, Feroz Abbasi, Richard Belmar and Moazzam Begg arrive back in the UK and are held under the Terrorism Act, before being freed without charge.Jan 29 Begg calls the allegations against him "spurious".
March 21 Claims by Iraqi citizen Bisher al-Rawi, who was arrested in Gambia with fellow British resident Jamil el-Banna, that he spied for MI5, are revealed. He says MI5 urged him to stay friends with the radical cleric Abu Qatada, so al-Rawi could inform on him.
March 29 The CSRT process is complete. In all 558 detainees complete the process, with 38 judged to be no longer enemy combatants and eligible for release.
May 11 Four people die in anti-American riots in Afghanistan after Newsweek reports US soldiers desecrated the Qu'ran in Guantánamo Bay.
May 16 Newsweek admits it got its story wrong.
November 22 The prime minister, Tony Blair, says: "I think [Guantánamo Bay] is an anomaly and you can't maintain it forever ... It is a difficult situation but most people recognise at some point it must be brought to an end."
2006
February 15 A UN report recommends the closure of Guantánamo.
March 16 Government lawyers admit MI5 provided information to the US about al-Rawi and el-Banna before they were seized by the CIA.
April 19 The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, writes to his US counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, demanding the release of al-Rawi.
April 20 The US government releases its first official list of detainees. The list of 558 people comprises three-quarters of the total detainees who have passed through the camp
May 18 Two detainees attempt suicide. A riot breaks out.
June 10 Saudi Arabians Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi al-Utaybi, 30, and Yasser Talal al-Zahrani, 22, and Ali Abdullah Ahmed of Yemen, who was 29 or 30, die by apparent suicide.
June 21 Bush speaks of his desire to close the Guantánamo camps.
June 29 The supreme court rules the military commission system for Guantánamo violates US and international law, and that the Geneva conventions do apply to detainees.
2007
February 7 A Pentagon inquiry finds no evidence of abuse.
March 18 Two UK residents, Ahmed Errachidi, 40, and Ahmed Belbacha, 37, are cleared by a Pentagon tribunal but face indefinite detention because the UK is refusing to authorise their release, it is reported.
March 26 Australian David Hicks, 31, pleads guilty to a war-crime charge of providing material support to terrorism. It is the first case to be put before the new system of military tribunals.
April 1 Al-Rawi is freed, four and a half years after being seized.
April 27 Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, one of al-Qaida's most senior commanders, who is said to have been calling for a "large-scale" attack on Britain, is transferred from CIA custody to Guantánamo Bay.
July 25 MI5 was "indirectly and inadvertently" involved in the CIA rendition of two Britons - al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna - says a parliamentary intelligence and security committee.
December 5 Supreme court begins hearing two critical cases in which detainees challenge the removal by Congress of foreign prisoners' right of habeus corpus - the right to plead in court inside a limited period.
Dec 7 Four Britons are to be freed, say reports. Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes and Abdenour Samuer will be allowed to return to the UK. A fourth, Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, will be sent to Saudi Arabia.
Dec 13 Foreign office confirms that el-Banna, Deghayes and Samuer are to be released but says the US has refused to free Aamer and an Ethiopian called Binyam Mohammed because of "significant additional security concerns".
The foreign secretary, David Miliband, says he is no longer in "active discussions" relating to Aamer but is lobbying on behalf of Mohammed. He describes the five individuals as the only remaining detainees "given leave to enter or remain in the UK under the immigration acts".
More General Analysis on US, UN and International Law
More General Analysis of the "War on Terrorism"
