EU parliament calls for action to close Guantanamo

[Bonnie]

STRASBOURG (AFP) - The European Parliament has called on European leaders to use a high-level summit next week to demand that Washington close its "war on terror" detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

In a resolution, the assembly urged European Union members to "institute a joint action calling on the US Government to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre and act in accordance with international law regarding the treatment of detainees".

It called on them Tuesday to "adopt a common approach" ahead of a summit with US President George W. Bush in Vienna next week.

Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said Monday that the bloc would use the June 21-22 summit to press for the closure of Guantanamo Bay.

The camp -- which hit the headlines again after the suicide of three inmates -- has long been a cause of concern for the European bloc.

Camp guards at Guantanamo found three inmates -- two Saudis and a Yemeni -- hanged from ceilings of cells in the maximum security section of the camp at a US Naval base in Cuba on Saturday.

The EU parliament resolution reaffirmed that all Guantanamo inmates should be treated in accordance with international humanitarian law and, if charged, be granted a swift, fair, public and independent trial.

It called on Washington to prevent the use of so-called "special interrogation techniques" which constitute torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment -- such as sexual humiliation, "short shackling", in which detainees' hands are shackled to the floor, and the use of dogs to induce fear.

The US authorities must ensure that all allegations of torture and other ill-treatment involving US personnel are subject to prompt and thorough investigation and trial, the text said.

Washington does not acknowledge that the more than 450 detainees in Guantanamo are prisoners of war or entitled to the full protection of the Geneva Conventions. The United States suspects them of being Al-Qaeda members and Taliban fighters captured in Afghanistan in late 2001.

http://www.newsalerts.com/news/arti...r-action-to-close-guantanamo.html:top6:678158

 

[CSM]

And just what will the EU do if we don't close Gitmo? I bet the UN will censure the US in a strongly worded letter.

 

[Annie]

I think there are more Afghanis at Gitmo than Europeans?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060614/ap_on_re_as/afghan_guantanamo

Afghans declare Gitmo conditions 'humane'

By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer1 hour, 27 minutes ago

An Afghan delegation returning from a 10-day visit to the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay said Wednesday that prison conditions there were "humane."

The head of the delegation, Abdul Jabar Sabhet of the Interior Ministry, said the delegation was given the chance to speak freely with all 96 Afghan prisoners about their living conditions. Sabhet said there were "only one or two" complaints.

"Conditions of the jail was humane. There were rumors in this country about that. It was wrong. What we have seen was OK," he said.

Sabhet's assessment comes five days after the suicides of three detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

He said more than half of the Afghan prisoners were expected to be transferred soon, though he didn't have an exact date.

"We ensure the Afghan people that Afghan prisoners will soon return to our country," he said.

Last August, the United States and the Afghan government announced an agreement to send Afghans held at the detention center and elsewhere back to their country. No date was specified at the time.

Those expected to be released soon were accused of less serious crimes, Sabhet said.

American and allied Afghan forces captured thousands of suspected Taliban and al-Qaida members in Afghanistan after a U.S.-led invasion toppled the repressive Taliban government in late 2001.

Hundreds of detainees were classified as "enemy combatants" and transferred to Guantanamo. Many have since been returned home.

The three suicides Saturday were the first detainee deaths at Guantanamo — where the U.S. holds about 460 men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban — and the military said they have prompted a complete review of operations at the detention center.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has called on the military to allow an emergency independent inspection of the base to confirm the causes of death of the three detainees and to provide an assessment of the health of the other prisoners.

 

[trobinett]

Well gee, the EU is upset, really?

A few words of advice to the EU, you tread on v-e-r-y thin ice.

These people are NOT soldiers, NEVER were soldiers, and NO nation would have them in their military.

These people should be pumped dry of what ever information they may have, and then SHOT, once, don't want to waste ammunition.

The information we may get, may, or maybe already has, saved some European nation's ass.

I do think however, that the usefulness of these slim balls has ran its course, and maybe it's time for a general "clean up". You know, just to placate our European allies.

Oh, the "clean up" wouldn't be letting them go.

 

[dmp]

Fuck the EU - let's move north from Iraq and 'over-throw' that regime, too!

 

[Avatar4321]

Funny, last time I checked the EU didnt have a say in what we do. So why should we listen to them when there is nothing inhumane going on there?

I cant get over the fact that the Left throughout the world refuses to actually prove any of their accusations but expects us to accept them as truth just because they say it. its frustrating as heck.

 

[Mr.Conley]

The EU can't get it's own Constitution passed. This is nothing. They're just trying to make themselves look important.

 

[Yukon]

This American "torture chamber" should be burned to the ground for it is a disgrace to the memory of the men who died saving our great nation from the Nazi hordes.

 

[rtwngAvngr]

This American "torture chamber" should be burned to the ground for it is a disgrace to the memory of the men who died saving our great nation from the Nazi hordes.

Are you referring to the panties on the head, the naked pyramid, and the scary dog?

I've been to Tri Kappa Haunted Houses that were more in violation of human rights.