A north London chef who has been held as an "enemy combatant" at Guantanamo Bay for more than five years has been cleared for release.

Ahmed Errachidi, a 40-year-old Moroccan national who lived in England for 18 years, has been imprisoned without trial at the military base in Cuba since 2001, accused of attending an Afghan Al-Qaeda training camp in July 2001 to learn about weapons, war tactics and bomb making.

Human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith has always maintained that Mr Errachidi was working as a chef at Cafe Loco, in Muswell Hill Broadway, at the time and that he has payslips, time-sheets and bank transactions to prove it.

Mr Errachidi's release from Guantanamo is likely to still take some time pending security arrangements.

Mr Stafford Smith, who is the head of British charity Reprieve's legal team, said: "For five years this mentally ill man has been mistaken for a terrorist, a sadly stark example of the flaws of US military intelligence. For five years Britain has not lifted a finger to help him, though he lived and worked here for 18 years."

Reprieves plans to visit Mr Errachidi next month to discuss his options as it is still not clear whether he will be sent to Morocco or back to England upon his release.