U.S. rejects calls for Guantanamo closure

The United States strongly rejected UN calls for the immediate closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison, claiming that prisoners at the detention facility are treated humanely, BBC reported.



Five UN human rights investigators said in a report that Washington was violating human rights, including a ban on torture, arbitrary detention and the right to a fair trial.

"The United States government should close the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities without further delay," the 40-page report said. Until then, the U.S. government should "refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment," it added.

"Those persons either have to be released immediately or they should be brought to a proper and competent court and tried for the offences they are charged with," UN special rapporteur on torture Manfred Nowak told the BBC.

Putting more pressure on Washington, the European Parliament endorsed a resolution demanding the closure of Guantanamo and calling on the U.S. to treat the detainees in compliance with international humanitarian law, Reuters reported.

The resolution is supported by all major political groups in the European Parliament. However, it is non-binding and does not oblige the European Union to take any action.

>> Deaf ear

The U.S. made clear that calls to close the prison would fall on deaf ear. White House spokesman Scott McClellan dismissed the UN report, describing it as "a rehash" of past accusations by lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees. "We know that al-Qaeda terrorists are trained in trying to disseminate false allegations," he claimed.

McClellan also made clear that calls to close the prison would fall on deaf ear.

"These are dangerous terrorists that we're talking about that are there and I think we've talked about that issue before and nothing's changed in terms of our views," he said.

The United States is holding more than 500 foreign suspects at Guantanamo. Only four have been charged.

>> “Excessive violence”

The UN report expressed concern at the “excessive violence used in many cases during transportation ... and forced-feeding of detainees on hunger strike”, saying that this treatment “must be assessed as amounting to torture.”

The lack of any U.S. investigation into these accusations is a violation of the UN Convention against Torture, the authors said.

The investigators also said they were particularly concerned by attempts by the U.S. administration to "redefine" the nature of torture to allow certain interrogation tactics.

The report ends by demanding the U.S. to grant the UN full and unrestricted access to the detention centre, including private interviews with detainees.

Last November, a group of UN human rights experts rejected an invitation by the U.S. to visit Guantanamo because Washington refused to allow them free access to prisoners there. The Pentagon says only the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) can be allowed freed access to prisoners.