Most of the British citizens being held at the US base in Guantanamo Bay could be returned home within weeks after Washington apparently softened its demands, British newspapers reported today.
Mr Pierre-Richard Prosper, US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes, told journalists at a briefing in London that detainees could be repatriated if their home countries were able to "manage" them after their return.
That could mean them being kept under constant surveillance by security services.
"We are prepared to arrange their transfer home for detention, or prosecution or other actions, depending on individual circumstances," the Daily Telegraphquoted Mr Prosper as saying after talks with officials in London.
"We are not asking for absolutes. We are not asking for a guaranteed conviction," the London Timesquoted him as saying. "But we are saying that they are dangerous people, they are engaged in dangerous activity."
Nine Britons are among 660 detainees held without charges or trials as "enemy combatants" at the US naval base in Cuba.
The prison was set up in January 2002 for combatants captured in Afghanistan. It also houses others suspected of association with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, accused by Washington of carrying out the September 11th, 2001, attacks.
Their treatment has appalled many Britons and human rights groups who believe the prisoners will be deprived of a fair trial.
The solicitor for British prisoner Mr Feroz Abbasi said an apparent softening of Washington's demands indicated that it was now the British government which was delaying the repatriation of the nine Britons.