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New maximum-security jail to open at Guantanamo Bay
The controversy over the US-run detention centre at Guantanamo Bay is to erupt anew with confirmation by the Pentagon that a new, permanent prison will open in the Cuban enclave in the next few weeks.
Camp 6, a state-of-the-art maximum-security jail built by a Halliburton subsidiary, will be able to hold 200 prisoners. Commander Robert Durand, a spokesman for Joint Task Force Guantanamo, said the $30m, two-storey block was due to open at the end of September. He added: "Camp 6 is designed to improve the quality of life for the detainees and provide greater protection for the people working in the facility."
This development will refuel the controversy about the jail, which still holds 450 prisoners from President George Bush's "war on terror". Campaigners pointed to Mr Bush's claim earlier this summer that he would "like to close" Guantanamo. Just weeks after he made his comments in June, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration's system for trying prisoners using military tribunals breached United States and international law.
At the time, some campaigners predicted the decision marked the beginning of the end of Guantanamo Bay. Since then, however, the Bush administration has signalled its intention to introduce new legislation that would circumvent the court's ruling. The revelation that Camp 6 is poised to open is proof that it intends to keep using the prison.
Amnesty International's UK campaigns director, Tim Hancock, said: "This appears to make a mockery of President Bush's statements about the need to close down Guantanamo Bay. In addition to strongly urging the President to step in to prevent any extension to this already notorious prison camp, we call on him to speed up the process of closing Guantanamo and of ensuring that all detainees are allowed fair trials or released to safe countries."
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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1204499.ece
This development will refuel the controversy about the jail, which still holds 450 prisoners from President George Bush's "war on terror". Campaigners pointed to Mr Bush's claim earlier this summer that he would "like to close" Guantanamo. Just weeks after he made his comments in June, the Supreme Court ruled that the administration's system for trying prisoners using military tribunals breached United States and international law.
At the time, some campaigners predicted the decision marked the beginning of the end of Guantanamo Bay. Since then, however, the Bush administration has signalled its intention to introduce new legislation that would circumvent the court's ruling. The revelation that Camp 6 is poised to open is proof that it intends to keep using the prison.
Amnesty International's UK campaigns director, Tim Hancock, said: "This appears to make a mockery of President Bush's statements about the need to close down Guantanamo Bay. In addition to strongly urging the President to step in to prevent any extension to this already notorious prison camp, we call on him to speed up the process of closing Guantanamo and of ensuring that all detainees are allowed fair trials or released to safe countries."
More
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1204499.ece
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The two-storey block is being built by a subsidiary of Halliburton, the former employer of now US Vice President Dick Cheney, at a cost of 30 million dollars, according to The Independent.
The state-of-the-art maximum-security jail is due to be opened by the end of September and accommodate 200 detainees.
In a major defeat for the administration, the US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, June29 , that President George Bush overstepped his power in ordering military trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees.
The Bush administration has signaled its intention to introduce new legislation that would circumvent the court's ruling.
Almost four years after detaining them in the remote, high-security notorious detention camp, the Pentagon released on Wednesday, April19 , the names and nationalities of 558 Guantanamo detainees.
The US had designated the detainees, most of whom were detained in Afghanistan, as "enemy combatants," denying them the rights accorded to prisoners of war under international agreements.
Fueling Fire
The expansion of Guantanamo is expected to further fuel the controversy about the detention center.
"This appears to make a mockery of President Bush's statements about the need to close down Guantanamo Bay," said Tim Hancock, Amnesty International's UK campaigns director.
Faced with growing international condemnation of the camp, Bush has said he would like to empty the detention center.
"In addition to strongly urging the President to step in to prevent any extension to this already notorious prison camp, we call on him to speed up the process of closing Guantanamo and of ensuring that all detainees are allowed fair trials or released to safe countries," said Hancock.
US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Colleen Graffy told BBC in March that Washington was seeking advice from Britain on ways to send terror suspects held in Guantanamo to their home countries and eventually close the facility.
A recent report by the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva pressed for the closure of the detention center, saying acts committed against detainees amount to torture.
Amnesty had dismissed Guantanamo as "a symbol of abuse and represents a system of detention that is betraying the best US values and undermines international standards."
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-07/30/05.shtml