THE detention centre for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba could be closed down by the end of next year.

Behind last week’s statement by President George W Bush that he would “very much like to end Guantanamo”, intensive negotiations have been going on to repatriate prisoners, according to a British human rights lawyer.

Clive Stafford-Smith, legal director of Reprieve, the prisoners’ rights group, and who represents 40 detainees, said that in March he had been taken to lunch in London by an official at the US State Department and spent it “talking through how to close Guantanamo”.

Lord Goldsmith, the attorney-general, said last week the existence of Guantanamo was “unacceptable” and it should close. Washington has claimed it does not want to be the “world’s jailer” but is only now stepping up its efforts to get rid of the detainees.

Thwarted in its attempt to keep terrorist suspects out of the American courts, and sobered by the realisation that few detainees out of a total of 485 can be brought before a military tribunal, the Bush government is seeking a way out.

The Pentagon claims to be ready to release 135 detainees who are no longer considered to pose a threat to US security, but would like to release far more.

Officials in Washington have hinted that up to 120 Saudi Arabians could return home. Most of the 125 Afghan detainees could also be sent back, some to the military detention centre at Bagram, and just over 100 Yemenis could be released.

Talks with both governments have been protracted. A Saudi source said the US wanted to “get rid” of its detainees but Saudi Arabia would accept them only on its own terms.

Only 10 prisoners are facing military tribunals, including David Hicks, an Australian captured fighting with the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Australian government last week concluded a deal with the US that would allow him, if convicted, to serve his sentence at home.

Washington has been soliciting advice on how to rehabilitate detainees who might otherwise rejoin the jihad if freed. One of those consulted, Rohan Gunaratna, the author of Inside Al-Qaeda, said: “The Americans are now seriously thinking of rehabilitation.”

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