The Government was under growing pressure yesterday to secure the release of a Birmingham man and three other Britons from Guantanamo Bay after French detainees were handed over by the US authorities. Four French men held at the US naval base in Cuba have been placed in French custody, officials in Paris said. The men were due to appear before the French counterintelligence agency and antiterrorism judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere on arrival in France. Four Britons, including Moazzam Begg, aged 36, from Birmingham, are among more than 600 prisoners from 40 countries still being held at Guantanamo on suspicion of links to al Qaida or the fallen Taliban regime of Afghanistan. Stephen Jakobi, director of Fair Trials Abroad, said pressure was growing on Tony Blair to secure the Britons' release. "I am concerned that other Europeans are now being released as a result of collective pressure but we are still getting nowhere in our negotiations regarding the Britons out there," he said. "What about this much vaunted 'special relationship' which doesn't seem to be working?" Barry Hugill, spokesman for the human rights pressure group Liberty, said: "Our view is that they should be returned to the UK where, if there are serious charges to be laid against them, they could then be tried in a properly convened court with a jury." A Foreign Office spokesman said the French detainees' release would not affect the Britons' status. He said: "It doesn't have any impact on our negotiations. Negotiations with the Americans are continuing." The spokesman could not give a time estimate for the Britons' release, saying: "The Prime Minister has asked President Bush for them to be returned." Talks are to continue between the US and French authorities over the future of three more French detainees still held at Guantanamo Bay. France has long sought the extradition of all seven suspects, some of whom are wanted in connection with French antiterror investigations. As well as Begg, the Britons held at Guantanamo Bay include Feroz Abbasi, 23, from Croydon, Surrey; Martin Mubanga, 29, from Wembley, London; and Richard Belmar, from St John's Wood, London. Some of the Guantanamo Bay detainees have been at the prison for more than two and a half years, with little or no contact with the outside world. The US government describes the prisoners as "enemy combatants" who pose a threat to America and can be held without legal rights. | 
