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UK Attorney General calls for Guantanamo to close
The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, is set to trigger a diplomatic row between Britain and the United States by calling for Guantánamo Bay to close.
The decision by the government's chief legal adviser to denounce the detention centre in Cuba as 'unacceptable' will dismay the Bush administration, which has continually rejected claims that the camp breaches international laws on human rights.
But Goldsmith will tell a global security conference at the Royal United Services Institute this week that the camp at Guantánamo Bay must not continue. 'It is time, in my view, that it should close.' An urbane lawyer who eschews the limelight, Goldsmith is not known for shooting from the hip in such unequivocal terms; however, it is clear he has harboured grave doubts for some time over the legality of Guantánamo under international law.
'There are certain principles on which there can be no compromise,' Goldsmith will say. 'Fair trial is one of those - which is the reason we in the UK were unable to accept that the US military tribunals proposed for those detained at Guantánamo Bay offered sufficient guarantees of a fair trial in accordance with international standards.'
Although privately some senior ministers believe Guantánamo should be closed down, no one has so far condemned the camp in such open and trenchant terms. To date, the strongest criticism of the camp has come from Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland minister, who said on Newsnight in February that it was his personal belief that the camp should close, while the Prime Minister said only that it is an 'anomaly' that will have to end one day.
Goldsmith's speech will be welcomed by human rights groups and senior members of the judiciary who have long campaigned for the government to use its influence to persuade its ally to close the camp. The former Law Lord, Lord Steyn, now chairman of the human rights group, Justice, said last month that 'while our government condones Guantánamo Bay the world is perplexed about our approach to the rule of law.'
Steyn made it clear that if the British government were to criticise Guantánamo it would have significant consequences. 'You may ask: how will it help in regard to the continuing outrage at Guantánamo Bay for our government now to condemn it?' Steyn said. 'The answer is that it would at last be a powerful signal to the world that Britain supports the international rule of law.'
More
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1769383,00.html
But Goldsmith will tell a global security conference at the Royal United Services Institute this week that the camp at Guantánamo Bay must not continue. 'It is time, in my view, that it should close.' An urbane lawyer who eschews the limelight, Goldsmith is not known for shooting from the hip in such unequivocal terms; however, it is clear he has harboured grave doubts for some time over the legality of Guantánamo under international law.
'There are certain principles on which there can be no compromise,' Goldsmith will say. 'Fair trial is one of those - which is the reason we in the UK were unable to accept that the US military tribunals proposed for those detained at Guantánamo Bay offered sufficient guarantees of a fair trial in accordance with international standards.'
Although privately some senior ministers believe Guantánamo should be closed down, no one has so far condemned the camp in such open and trenchant terms. To date, the strongest criticism of the camp has come from Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland minister, who said on Newsnight in February that it was his personal belief that the camp should close, while the Prime Minister said only that it is an 'anomaly' that will have to end one day.
Goldsmith's speech will be welcomed by human rights groups and senior members of the judiciary who have long campaigned for the government to use its influence to persuade its ally to close the camp. The former Law Lord, Lord Steyn, now chairman of the human rights group, Justice, said last month that 'while our government condones Guantánamo Bay the world is perplexed about our approach to the rule of law.'
Steyn made it clear that if the British government were to criticise Guantánamo it would have significant consequences. 'You may ask: how will it help in regard to the continuing outrage at Guantánamo Bay for our government now to condemn it?' Steyn said. 'The answer is that it would at last be a powerful signal to the world that Britain supports the international rule of law.'
More
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,,1769383,00.html
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"It is time, in my view, that it should close," the British government's chief legal adviser will tell a global security conference at the Royal United Services Institute this week.
"There are certain principles on which there can be no compromise," Goldsmith will say.
"Fair trial is one of those - which is the reason we in the UK were unable to accept that the US military tribunals proposed for those detained at Guantánamo Bay offered sufficient guarantees of a fair trial in accordance with international standards."
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.
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."
Diplomatic Row
Goldsmith has harbored grave doubts for some time over the legality of Guantánamo under international law, according to The Observer.
It expected his statements to trigger a diplomatic row between war allies Britain and the US.
Although privately some senior ministers believe Guantanamo should be closed, no one has so far condemned it in such open and trenchant terms.
Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland minister, said in February it was his personal belief that the detention center should be shut down.
Prime Minister Tony Blair once described Guantanamo as an "anomaly" that will have to end one day.
US State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary Colleen Graffy told BBC television on Sunday, March12 , 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.
The Bush administration has been coming under mounting pressures at home and from aboard to shut down the infamous detention center.
In an editorial published on Saturday, February18 , The New York Times said the administration must close Guantanamo 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.
http://islamonline.net/English/News/2006-05/07/article03.shtml