British say Gitmo detainee fit for release

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A British team visiting a hunger-striking detainee at Guantanamo Bay concluded he is medically fit to return to the U.K., authorities announced Sunday.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said the visitors, who included a doctor, checked on the health of former British resident Binyam Mohamed and met Saturday with medical staff at the U.S. military prison on Cuba's southeast tip.

"There are no immediate medical concerns that would prevent (Mohamed) from traveling to the U.K., should the United States government agree to the U.K.'s request for release and return," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said Sunday.

Mohamed, a 30-year-old Ethiopian who moved to Britain as a teenager, has been on hunger strike for more than a month and is being force-fed at Guantanamo. He has been held at the isolated U.S. prison since 2004.

Mohamed had been accused of plotting al-Qaida attacks in the United States, but war-crimes charges against him at Guantanamo were dropped last year.

Mohamed's U.S. military lawyer, Air Force Lt. Col. Yvonne Bradley, had appealed to Britain to pressure President Barack Obama's administration for his release.