THE Foreign Office is in talks with US authorities over the possible return of eight British residents detained without trial at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to American government sources.

Pressure is mounting on European countries to help the Americans close the controversial prison camp after President George W Bush said at a European Union summit in Vienna last week that he wanted to “end” Guantanamo.

“We would like every government to take responsibility for their detainees, whether they are nationals or residents of their countries,” a US government source said.

Manfred Nowak, the Austrian United Nations special envoy for torture, urged Britain to take back its residents. “If the UK would take the first step, I am sure other European countries would follow,” he said.

British nationals held at Guantanamo Bay have all returned home, but the Foreign Office has so far declined to lobby for the return of detainees who are not UK citizens. An exception may now be made for Iraqi-born Bisher al-Rawi, who is said to have co-operated with the security services before his arrest.

According to American sources, Britain initiated talks for the return of the residents after some applied for a judicial review of the Foreign Office’s decision not to represent them.

Al-Rawi, Jamil el-Banna, a Jordanian who was granted refugee status in 2000, and Omar Deghayes, a Libyan who moved to Britain as a boy in 1986, lost their case in the High Court last month, but human rights lawyers are appealing the decision.

About 450 prisoners are held at Guantanamo. As many as 300 are from Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Yesterday the Pentagon said 14 Saudis had been sent home, and negotiations had intensified for the repatriation of the rest.

That leaves about 150 of various nationalities whose human rights may be at risk if they return to countries such as Algeria, Libya or China. “It is not such a large number if European and other democratic countries are willing to take our share,” said Nowak.

John Bellinger, legal adviser to Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said: “There are a few people we are not prepared to release or transfer but we are open to all offers.

“Many people in Europe believe Guantanamo is our own bed and we ought to lie in it. But our perception is that [the detainees] are quite dangerous and pose a . . . threat to us all.”

The Supreme Court is set to rule this week on a case brought by Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama Bin Laden’s driver, which challenges the legality of the military tribunals set up to try detainees. Only 10 people have so far been charged under the military commission. Bush is waiting for the outcome of that case before determining the future of the detainees.

Washington was delighted by Nowak’s call for Europeans to help close the prison. “We as European Union states have criticised the United States,” the UN special envoy said. “You can’t only criticise without then assisting them in solving the problem.”

Nowak hopes to establish an international commission that would screen detainees, determine whether they would be at risk if sent home and help to place them in third countries.

“He is whistling in the dark,” said a senior British source, who doubted any country would agree to accept foreign detainees. He denied there were negotiations over the return of British residents, but said some might eventually be taken back.

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