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U.S. Slammed for “Creating New Category” Of POWs
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| Concern still growing over inhumane treatment of prisoners at Camp X-Ray |
JOHANNESBURG, Jan. 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A former chief prosecutor for United Nations international criminal tribunals Thursday criticized the United States for trying to create a new category of prisoner for fighters captured in Afghanistan, as London
wants Washington to hand over British Al-Qaeda suspects, held in Cuba, for trial back home.
"It seems to me the United States is creating some new category," said Richard Goldstone, the former chief prosecutor for the U.N. tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Either they're prisoners of war, in which case they are entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention,” he said, “[Or] if they're not prisoners of war, they are common criminals and they should be brought to trial in the U.S. if it wishes to do that.”
Goldstone, who is a South African constitutional court judge, added his voice to a growing number of groups attached to the U.N. and human rights advocates who have expressed concern about the conditions in which prisoners from Afghanistan are being transferred to and held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
"The best solution, it seems to me, would be for them to be placed before an international criminal court," he told SABC radio news.
Britain, meanwhile, wants Washington to hand over British Al-Qaeda suspects, being held in Cuba, for trial in their homeland, to avoid a confrontation over U.S. use of the death penalty, The Financial Times said Thursday, January 17.
The British government is also concerned that Washington may be alienating public opinion through its tough approach to the prisoners held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, the paper reported.
In public, however, Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has supported the United States, insisting Wednesday that the detainees were being treated humanely.
But a senior British official interviewed by the FT expressed dismay at the blunt language used by U.S. Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, who said Tuesday, January 15, he did not feel "even the slightest concern" about the prisoners' treatment.
Kevin McNamara, a senior member of parliament for Britain’s ruling Labor Party, said the West "is in danger of losing the high moral ground because of the treatment and possible mode of trial of those prisoners".
The FT added that the British government was keen that the U.S. should secure detailed information from the prisoners to try to prevent further terrorist atrocities.
British intelligence agencies believe more could be learnt about the network's support here.
Blair told parliament Wednesday, "The Americans assure us that these people are indeed being humanely treated."
"Anybody who is captured by the American troops or the British troops or by anyone else should be treated humanely, in accordance to the Geneva convention and proper international laws,” he added.
"There should be no doubt about two things: First of all, we're dealing with very dangerous people,” Blair added, “secondly, however, we are civilized people and we will treat prisoners in a proper and humane way."
Blair said that the prisoners were being properly fed, exercised, showered and offered medical treatment.
In a separate but related development, a Red Cross team is due to visit the U.S. military camp in Cuba Thursday to check the conditions of Al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners, as international concern grows at the way they are being treated, reported BBC’s online news service.
The U.S. authorities said they would be happy to let the Red Cross inspect Camp X-Ray at the remote U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
Camp commander, Brigadier-General Michael Lehnert, insisted the captives, who now number 80, are being treated humanely, but he added, "These are not nice people."
With the prisoners being held in cages exposed to the elements, there have been calls for the U.S. to respect the prisoners' rights.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Mary Robinson. said Wednesday she was very concerned about the treatment of prisoners, responding to reports that they were shackled and drugged during their transfer from Afghanistan to the U.S. military base in Cuba.
Robinson said the overwhelming view in legal circles was that the fighters were prisoners of war and their status was defined and protected by the third Geneva Convention of 1949.
The conditions surrounding the determination of the status of prisoners of war and minimum standards for their treatment are laid down in the third Geneva Convention.
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