Pressure grows for Guantanamo closure

epolitix.com | February 23 2006

Ministers have been urged to put more pressure on the US to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp being used to detain terror suspects.

A report from the Commons foreign affairs committee released on Thursday found that the centre is actually holding back the war on terror.

"We conclude that the continued use of Guantanamo Bay as a detention centre outside all legal regimes diminishes the USA's moral authority and is a hindrance to the effective pursuit of the war against terrorism," it said.

"We recommend that the government make loud and public its objections to the existence of such a prison regime."

Anomaly
Asked at his monthly press conference to respond to the report, Tony Blair repeated his view that the camp was an "anomaly" but said the "context" was important.

The prime minister told journalists: "I'll be very clear with you. I've said why I think that Guantanamo is an anomaly and I want it to come to an end.

"But I also think however that it is important that we never forget the context in which this has happened, which is the context for the war in Afghanistan and the reason for that was the slaughter of 3,000 innocent people on September 11.

"It is important, of course, that we pursue the action against terrorism maintaining absolutely our commitment to proper civil liberties and human rights but it is also important that we remember those people who died in that terrorist attack and have some understanding of the huge amount of anger that there is in America."

Rendition
The committee also demanded that the government investigates the US practice of 'extraordinary rendition' in which terror suspects are flown to "black sites" where they could face torture.

Hundreds of CIA flights are said to have used UK airspace and airports, although ministers say they have received only four American requests to actually transport detainees.

But the government has been criticised for not investigating the issue more thoroughly, a conclusion echoed by the MPs.

"We conclude that the government has a duty to enquire into the allegations of extraordinary rendition and black sites under the Convention against Torture, and to make clear to the USA that any extraordinary rendition to states where suspects may be tortured is completely unacceptable," said the report.

Shadow foreign secretary William Hague also warned that Guantanamo and rendition flights "have led to a serious erosion in our moral authority and undermining of our struggle against international terrorism".

"The most important quality of liberal democracy is respect for the rule of law and human rights," he added.

"In standing up for freedom we must be careful not to employ methods that undermine it."

Rights
The committee's conclusions have been echoed by the government's most senior legal adviser, attorney general Lord Goldsmith, who used a speech on Wednesday evening to say there should be "no compromise" on fundamental rights.

Speaking at the London School of Economics, Lord Goldsmith said there were "rights such as the presumption of innocence or the right to a fair trial by an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, where we cannot compromise on long-standing principles of justice and liberty".

He added that "even when emergency or time of war permit some modification to, or even derogation from, certain rights, there are some rights so fundamental that there can be no compromise on them".

"Certain rights - for example the right to life, the prohibition on torture, on slavery - are simply non-negotiable," he said.

"There should be in modern society no outlaws; no people to whom the law does not apply who can ignore its constraints and to whom therefore anything can be done.

"They should be bound by the law and held rigorously to account in accordance with the law when they do not uphold it - but the law should not treat them as non-persons either. Some would not accept this."

Last modified February 23, 2006