Criticism grows over Guantanamo detainees

[seemslikeadream]

Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — One prisoner is accused of training with al-Qaida, two others of being aides and bodyguards to Osama bin Laden. Yet so far, none of the hundreds held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is charged with carrying out a terrorist attack, and criticism of the U.S. detentions is mounting.

The British government has complained that U.S. plans for military tribunals violate international law, and Prime Minister Tony Blair has personally asked President Bush to allow four Britons held at Guantanamo to return home, according to court papers obtained Friday by The Associated Press.

Also Friday, 31 U.N. human rights experts urged the United States and other governments to give the world body access to prisons holding terror suspects — including Guantanamo.

Some critics accuse Washington of exaggerating the captives' importance, as the Supreme Court prepares a ruling expected next week on whether nearly 600 inmates can appeal in civilian courts, as argued by their lawyers.

The Pentagon insists senior al-Qaida operatives are held in Guantanamo alongside rank-and-file fighters from the Afghanistan war.

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Ahern urged to raise Camp X-Ray issue
25/06/2004 - 09:29:39

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was urged today to raise the issue of Guantanamo Bay with the US President during the summit.

Stephen Jakobi, who is legal adviser to the European Parliament on Guantanamo Bay, said the summit represented a "last chance" for Europe to put pressure on the US over what he said was the abuse of detainees’ basic human rights.

Mr Jakobi, of the charity Fair Trials Abroad, said: “What has been accumulating is evidence that interrogation procedures at Guantanamo include torture and abuse.

“We’ve also got abused victims appearing before a kangaroo court.

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