In France, five former Guantanamo Bay prisoners have been released after a court ruled they were illegally interrogated. The prisoners had been jailed since the US returned them to France in 2004 and 2005. All say they were tortured at Guantanamo. On Tuesday, the court ruled their interrogation by French security agents was illegal, because conditions at Guantanamo Bay violate international conventions.

Defense lawyer Paul-Albert Iweins: “It is an excellent decision which recognizes the law. We have asked the court to consider the procedure as illegal, and they did, so it is a very good thing for the law in this country. We could not accept that the interrogators would question people imprisoned in a foreign territory in conditions contrary to international conventions.”

The five prisoners say they plan to seek compensation from the US for their Guantanamo ordeal. The ruling came one day after the Guantanamo prisoner Binyam Mohamed returned to Britain after his release by the US.