Brit says he'll soon be freed

GUANTÁNAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — A former British resident imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay since 2002 claims he is about to be released, the man's attorney said Sunday.

Binyam Mohamed said in a letter to his attorney that "several reliable sources" told him his release to Britain had been approved recently.

The U.S. accused him of plotting a radioactive bomb attack on the U.S., but the allegation was withdrawn in October.

Mohamed said he had been on hunger strike to protest his confinement.

"I should have been home a long time ago," he said in the letter, which was dated Dec. 29 but had to be reviewed by U.S. authorities before it could be publicly released.

His attorney, Clive Stafford Smith, of the British rights group Reprieve, said he has received no official confirmation of any pending release.

Britain's Foreign Office said Sunday it would continue to press for Mohamed's release but the U.S. had so far declined to free him "due to security concerns."

Mohamed was born in Ethiopia and moved to Britain as a teenager. He was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and sent to Guantánamo.

Four former British residents have been returned from Guantánamo since April 2007 — but Mohamed and another man who previously lived in the United Kingdom, Saudi-born Shaker Aamer, remain despite a British request to take them back.