Britain and US in talks over closing Guantanamo Bay

LONDON, March 12 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Facing intense and growing international pressure to close the notorious detention camp, Washington is seeking advice from war ally Britain on ways to send terror suspects held in Guantanamo to their home countries and eventually close the facility.

"There's continuous discussion about that," US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Colleen Graffy told BBC television Sunday, March12 , reported Reuters.

"Hopefully, over the years, we will find a way to either release them to their country of origin or they will declare that they no longer want to kill us," she said.

The Bush administration has been coming under mounting pressures at home and from aboard to shut down the infamous detention center where it has been holding about 500 detainees since its invasion of Afghanistan in2001 .

In an editorial published on Saturday, February18 , The New York Times asserted that Washington needs a prisons policy that conforms to the law and to democratic principles.

"Now the only solution is to close Guantanamo Bay and account for its prisoners fairly and openly."

This came two days after a 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.

Suspects Transfer

The Independent daily also confirmed Sunday discussion between Washington and London on the issue.

It said that US Attorney General Alberto Gonazales, in London last week, asked British ministers about their attempts to deport terror suspects back to their home countries.

The Bush administration wants the alleged terror suspects to be imprisoned in their home countries, the majority of which have a reputation for torture and extra-judicial killings.

Britain has so far signed three deals with Lebanon, Jordan and Libya in which they undertake not to abuse terror suspects sent back from Britain.

The Blair government was forced to release more than a dozen alleged Al-Qaeda members from high-security prisons last year after the House of Lords ruled that their detention without trial was in breach of the Human Rights Act.

The US is not bound by similar legislation, but it feels stung by the intense global criticism of its conduct at Guantanamo Bay.

Amnesty International 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."

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