LONDON, November 30 (IslamOnline.net) - The war duo, Britain and the U.S., are said to be thrashing out a deal allowing the return to Britain of nine Britons among 660 people held without charges by Washington in the heavily-guarded Guantanamo detention camp, British newspapers reported Sunday, November 30.

The Observer quoted officials from America and the United Kingdom as expecting the deal to be inked before Christmas.

"The agreement will end one of the most damaging conflicts between the White House and Downing Street, which has been pressing for fair trials for the Britons who have been held under military command at the U.S. base in Cuba for two years," said the weekly.

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw Wednesday, November 26, reiterated British concern over the plight of nationals in Guantanamo.

"I am concerned about the situation in Guantanamo Bay - we have been for some time," he said.

"This deal will most likely consist of the British having to plead guilty on some nonsense charge and come back here to serve their sentence," the paper quoted British human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith as saying.

"The Americans just want these people to plead guilty so that it looks as if they have been telling the truth that these are all "bad dudes", he said.

"We know that is nonsense. There is no evidence of any kind against them. In one man's case all he was doing was running a school."

He also expected two of the nine detainees, Asif Iqbal and Shafiq Rasul, to be released without charge while the other seven would serve sentences in British jails after pleading guilty to charges in the U.S.

"It seems highly improbable that Iqbal and Rasul will be charged with anything. There simply is nothing there," said Smith, who is serving the detainees.

The families of the two men had not been told of the imminent deal but professed delight if their relatives were to be returned home, said the weekly.

"We have heard nothing about this at all. If it is true then obviously we would be very happy but I don't really want to say anything until we know the details for sure," said Iqbal's sister Nasreen.

In another interview with The Independent Sunday, Smith said detainee Moazzam Begg had been forced to admit involvement in a plot to attack the British parliament to kill Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"Moazzam has agreed to plead guilty to this absurd story that allegedly he was part of an al-Qaeda plot to get a drone - an unmanned aircraft - and fly it from Suffolk over London to drop anthrax over the House of Commons," he said.

"The Americans must think we're incredibly stupid," asserted the British lawyer who is based in New Orleans in the U.S.

"The plot was 'laughable' because unmanned aircraft sophisticated enough for such an attack were tightly controlled by the armed forces, and cost at least $5m each. Getting hold of anthrax capable of being dropped from an aircraft was even less feasible," wrote The Independent.

Smith told the paper his client's admission, obtained under duress, was secured after months of interrogation and segregation in Camp Delta.

He added that Begg, 35, was put under intense pressure to plead guilty because Washington wanted quick and successful trials in the run-up to next year's presidential elections.

Britain's third most senior judge on Tuesday dismissed the situation in Guantanamo as a "monstrous failure of justice", charging that the suspects were being held in conditions of "utter lawlessness".

He underlined that all 660 of Guantanamo detainees had been deprived of "any rights whatsoever".

"As a lawyer brought up to admire the ideals of American democracy and justice I would have to say that I regard this as a monstrous failure of justice," said the judge.

"The question is whether the quality of justice envisaged for the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay complies with the minimum international standards for the conduct of fair trials. The answer can be given quite shortly. It is a resounding 'no'."

Steyn said Washington's purpose for holding the prisoners was "to put them beyond the rule of law, beyond the protection of any courts and at the mercy of victors.

"The procedural rules do not prohibit the use of force to coerce the prisoners to confess," he added.

Most of the Guantanamo detainees, who hail from 42 world countries, have been swept up during the U.S.-led war that ousted the Taliban regime from Afghanistan at the end of 2001.