US asks Australia to take Guantanamo inmates

Australia confirmed today that the US has asked it to consider accepting detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for terror suspects, and the acting prime minister said they would do so on a case by case basis.

Julia Gillard, filling in for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who is on vacation, confirmed the request in a statement, but it did not say how many detainees were proposed.

“For anyone to be accepted, they would have to meet Australia’s strict legal requirements and go through normal rigorous assessment processes,” she said. Australia screens potential immigrants and refugees for disease and security threats.

Ms Gillard’s office would not immediately elaborate, saying a further statement was possible later today.

Mr Rudd’s centre-left Labour Party, which came to power in 2007, had criticised the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as unjust and had demanded the repatriation of two Australians held there.

David Hicks, who was held at Guantanamo for five and a half years without trial, was sent back in 2007 after pleading guilty to supporting terrorism as a Taliban soldier in Afghanistan. He served a nine-month sentence in Australia.

Mamdouh Habib, an Egyptian-born immigrant who was arrested in Pakistan in 2001, was returned to Australia in 2005. No charges were ever filed against him.

President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close the prison and American officials have expressed concern that some detainees might be persecuted if returned to their home countries.

Australia’s opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull, however, said Australia should not accept any of the Guantanamo detainees, saying there are many people already waiting to enter the country.

“It would be difficult to imagine the circumstances in which any claims on humanitarian grounds should take priority over the many applicants for humanitarian entry currently awaiting approval,” he added.

Australia says it will most likely reject a US request to accept detainees.

Ms Gillard said although the request “demands proper consideration” is was unlikely Australia would accept any detainees.

Ms Gillard said Mr Obama had not made a request.