UN demands US close ‘torture’ camp

THE United States has come under international fire after a United Nations report said it should shut the prison at Guantanamo Bay used for terror suspects and release the detainees or put them on trial.

It also called on the US to refrain from practices that “amount to torture.”

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last night backed the finding that the camp should be closed

He said he did not necessarily agree with everything in the report but he did support its opposition to people being held in perpetuity without being charged and given a chance to explain themselves in a court.

The White House rejected the recommendation.

Spokesman Scott McClellan said: “These are dangerous terrorists that we’re talking about that are there.”

He dismissed the report as a “rehash” of previous allegations.

“We know that al-Qaida terrorists are trained in trying to disseminate false allegations,” he said.

The report, summarising an investigation by five UN experts who did not visit Guantanamo, said photographic evidence and testimony of former prisoners showed that detainees were shackled, chained, hooded and beaten if they resisted.

Some interrogation techniques - particularly the use of dogs, exposure to extreme temperatures, sleep deprivation for several consecutive days and prolonged isolation - caused extreme suffering, the report said.

“Such treatment amounts to torture,” it said, urging the US “to refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.”

It also said Guantanamo’s military commissions are under the ultimate authority of the White House and detainees should have trials.

Former UN Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said the US must take the findings of the report seriously if it was to win the war on terror.

“Democracies must win the war for minds and hearts,” she said. “To do that they must uphold international standards and when there is a report of five independent inspectors at the highest level then the US must take this seriously.”

The European Parliament echoed the call to shut Guantanamo, saying in a resolution that “every prisoner should be treated in accordance with international humanitarian law and tried without delay in a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent, impartial tribunal.”