UN human rights chief slams Guantanamo 'black hole'
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has
criticised an American court ruling that has found Guantanamo Bay
detainees are not protected by United States law.
Sergio Vieira de Mello says the detainees - including two Australians -
cannot be left in what he has termed a judicial black hole at the US
military base on Cuba.
Earlier this week, a US federal appeals court rejected a bid by 16
Australian, Kuwaiti, and British citizens held at the base to contest in
American courts the lawfulness and conditions of their
confinement.
The appeals court ruled US courts lack jurisdiction over the base, but Mr
Viera de Mello rejects that.
"If a country controls a territory and has a military force there,
if it has built a detention centre where it is holding 650 individuals,
you cannot argue that the law of that country does not apply there,"
he said.
"You can quibble all you like over points of law, I do not accept
the argument."
The detainees are suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters captured in
Afghanistan.
Washington classifies them as "enemy combatants", effectively
denying them the protection of the Geneva Conventions on the rights of
prisoners of war.
Mr Vieira de Mello has repeatedly criticised the situation, calling for
the detainees to either be judged and sentenced, or freed.
"It would be braver to say 'we accept that the jurisdiction of our
courts extends to this territory' and confront the problem. That is what
we expect of a true democracy. The United States should set an
example," he said.
"There is now a territory on this planet where no law applies. So we
can do anything there! If someone is murdered tomorrow, who will judge
the crime?" he asked.
Mr Vieira de Mello met with US President George Bush in Washington last
week and received assurances that prisoners in Guantanamo Bay were not
being tortured in the name of fighting terrorism.
"I hope that we have started ... a constructive dialogue. I am very
encouraged by the president's reaction," he said.
He stressed, however, that the court ruling was incompatible with the
United States' role as a model for world democracy.
http://abc.net.au/news/justin/nat/newsnat-14mar2003-16.htm
