UN criticises US Guantanamo action

Louise Arbour said the inmates had "no credible mechanism to ascertain the validity of ... suspicions or allegations".

Speaking at a news conference at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday after meeting Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, she said: "I am very concerned that we continue to see detention without trial and with, in my opinion, insufficient judicial supervision.

"I thought there had been progress in that direction.

The first prisoners arrived at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, more than five years ago, after the September 11, 2001, attacks, and about 395 are currently detained there.

Arbour said: "I hope that we will see the American judicial system rise to its long-standing reputation as a guardian of fundamental human rights and civil liberties and provide the protection to all that are under the authority, control and, therefore, in my view jurisdiction of the United States."

Cases dismissed

Her criticism referred to the Military Commissions Act, approved by the US Congress last year, and last month's federal appeals court ruling that Guantanamo Bay detainees cannot use the US court system to challenge
their detention.

The US appeals court ruling dismissed hundreds of cases filed by foreign-born detainees in federal court and also threatened to deny court access to millions of foreigners legally in the US as permanent residents.

The case is likely to go to the supreme court.

At issue is the right of habeas corpus, a basic tenet of the US constitution protecting detainees from unlawful imprisonment.

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