Premier Ewart Brown admitted today he erred by announcing to MPs and the media a week ago that the four Guantánamo Bay Uighurs had been deemed a zero security risk by Bermuda’s Police Commissioner.

Dr. Brown said he discovered the information he gave about the former terror suspects was incorrect when he repeated it on a radio talk show last Sunday and received an e-mail from the Commissioner himself.

The Premier told the House of Assembly today that his statement of last Friday was based upon “advice I had received following a briefing the Commissioner had provided to my colleague, the Minister of Labour, Home Affairs and Housing”.

He said: “I wish to make it abundantly clear that at no stage did I knowingly mislead this honourable House or the people of Bermuda.

“Immediately upon becoming aware of the inaccuracy of the information I had shared, I corrected it publicly. The unfortunate slew of allegations to the contrary will hopefully now cease.

“The statements were made in this honourable House and as such it is right that they be corrected in this very same forum.” He added: “To err is human, to forgive divine.”

Dr. Brown gave the inaccurate statement in Parliament on June 12 — a day after announcing that he had brought four Chinese Muslims from Guantánamo Bay to Bermuda without the UK’s permission.

He reassured MPs last Friday: “Let me say that there is absolutely no report anywhere that concludes that Bermuda is at any kind of risk. As late as this afternoon, Bermuda’s Commissioner of Police, having assessed these people, told Minister Burch that he considers that there is absolutely no security risk.”

At a press conference later that day, he reiterated: “Our Commissioner of Police has indicated that there is a zero security factor.”

But on Tuesday afternoon, Bermuda Police Service and Government House released statements contradicting his remarks.

Commissioner George Jackson said he only learned the Guantánamo detainees were relocating to Bermuda after they arrived and a “preliminary threat assessment” of them the next day described them as “high risk”.

See tomorrow’s edition of The Royal Gazette for the full story.