US 'setting bad example for human rights'

THE US's activities at Guantanamo Bay could encourage countries around the world to abuse human rights, Amnesty International claimed yesterday.

US President George W Bush's policy of imprisoning people without trial at the Camp Delta base in Cuba and at other military prisons in Afghanistan was setting a bad example, the charity warned. The human rights group said the US had created "unchallengeable executive power" for itself in the so-called war on terror.

Detainees at Guantanamo, including nine Britons, were being subjected to a "parallel justice system" and there had been reports of mistreatment, it added.