The four Britons detained at Guantanamo Bay will face special military tribunals within a month, it was reported yesterday. Military officials hearing the cases will presume that Moazzam Begg, from Sparkhill, Birmingham, Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar are enemy combatants, The Guardian newspaper said. The Pentagon said it was unable to confirm or deny the report. The move comes despite a pledge by the US to Attorney General Lord Goldsmith last year that the Britons at Guantanamo Bay would not face military commissions. Documents reportedly seen by the newspaper show that the four men will have no right to a lawyer during the 'combatant status review tribunals', at the prison camp on Cuba. Instead, a US military representative will pass the comments and arguments of the detainees on to superiors. The documents also reportedly state that the tribunals will work on the assumption that the case against the four men is "genuine and accurate". Second-hand information and hearsay, which would not be admissible in a normal US court, will be allowed. "The tribunal is not bound by the rules of evidence such as would apply in a court of law," the documents reportedly state. "Instead, the tribunal shall be free to consider any information it deems relevant and helpful." Among the documents is a letter from Thomas Lee, the US deputy assistant attorney general, saying that the tribunals for the Britons will be completed by mid-October. The tribunals were set up to establish whether Guantanamo detainees were "enemy combatants", following a Supreme Court ruling this year that the prison camp was subject to the jurisdiction of US courts. Gitanjali Gutierrez, the US-based lawyer for Mr Abbasi, aged 23, from Croydon and Mr Begg, aged 36, called the hearings "kangaroo courts". Brent Mickum, the lawyer for Mr Mubanga, aged 29, from Wembley, north west London, will visit his client today. He said he would advise Mr Mubanga not to take part in the proceedings. "They are backdoor trials," he said. If detainees refuse to co-operate with the hearings, they will continue in their absence. If the detainees are found to be enemy combatants their detention without trial can continue. Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, said: "Great store was set by the agreement the Attorney General apparently reached, but it does not seem to have any effect in preventing these proceedings." A Foreign Office spokeswoman added later: "In the absence of the prospect of a fair trial consistent with international standards, the British detainees should be returned home." | 
