Torture investigator calls for Guantanamo closure

The UN’s torture investigator today urged America’s European allies to push Washington to close the detention centre in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“I hope that the European Union will take up our main recommendation in their dialogue with the United States,” said UN special investigator Manfred Nowak.

“The main recommendation is to close as quickly as possible the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities.”

Nowak was one of the authors of a UN report released last month that said the US must close Guantanamo.

“The further detention of all those around 500 detainees is illegal under international human rights law,” Nowak told reporters after talks at EU headquarters.

He said the detainees should be given fair trials or set free, and suggested European nations should help the US by offering to try some of them or set up an international terrorism tribunal.

“What we are advocating is a burden sharing, in particular between Europe and the United States of America,” Nowak said. “It’s not enough just to call for a closure of Guantanamo Bay.”