US president Barack Obama urged lawmakers to give his plan to close the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay a “fair hearing” and said he did not want to pass the issue to his successor when he leaves the White House next year.

The US has begun preparing tents at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba for Haitians migrants in case of a mass migration spurred by the earthquake.

A London-based human rights group accused the US military of failing to adequately investigate the latest allegations of prisoner abuse at Guantanamo Bay and urged officials to open the detention centre to more independent monitors.

US authorities will review the rules for handling and monitoring detainees at Guantanamo Bay following the suicides of three men there, military officials said.

The US Defence Department yesterday identified the three Guantanamo detainees who committed suicide, saying one had ties to al-Qaida, another fought for the Taliban and a third had been cleared for transfer to another country.