JACK Straw has been put on the spot by an all-party group of MPs over the detention of British citizens in the American prison camp Guantanamo Bay.

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, which includes Hyndburn MP Greg Pope, has expressed concern about the detention of hundreds of alleged terror suspects from Afghanistan in the Cuban base.

Blackburn MP and Foreign Secretary Mr Straw told MPs that if the UK's request for the repatriation of five of its nationals was successful they would be investigated by British police on arrival.

Five men were released by the Americans in March but were not charged with anything after an investigation in this country.

Four men British men remain in Guantanamo Bay.

In a report on the Human Rights Annual Report 2003 from the Foreign Office the all-party group expresses doubts about the "legal vacuum" surrounding the detainees"

The report says: "We conclude that the release without charge of the five detainees by the British police races major concerns about the due process of law and the detentions at Guantanamo Bay.

"We recommend that the government explain why the process of repatriation took so long. The Foreign Office said it had no comment to make.