|
"Camp X-Ray" Ready for More Afghan Detainees
 |
| A detainee carried on a stretcher by military police after being interrogated by military officials at Camp X-Ray |
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The latest group of fighters captured in Afghanistan were being transferred Thursday to the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Major Steve Kox declined to say how many prisoners would be arriving at "Camp X-Ray”, whose occupancy was doubled since previous flights were suspended in January 2002.
U.S. Marine Brigadier General Mike Lehnert said 320 new cells had been built and the facility could eventually house at least 2,000 detainees.
So far, 158 Taliban and Al-Qaeda members are being held at the base in outdoor cells. Nearly a third of the detainees are nationals of Saudi Arabia according to Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz. His country, like some others, has asked that its citizens be handed over so it can interrogate them.
The rest of the detainees hail from 24 other countries, including Australia, Belgium, Britain, France, Kuwait, Sweden and Yemen.
On Wednesday, February 6, Saudi Arabia conceded to months-old U.S. reports that 15 Saudis were among the 19 Al-Qaeda members believed to have crashed planes into the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon on September 11.
Meanwhile, the Belgian Foreign Ministry announced that one of its nationals being held at Guanatanamo Bay in Cuba is in good health and is being treated properly.
A Belgian diplomat from Washington and a police official were given permission to visit the detainee on Sunday and Monday at the naval base.
The first detainees arrived January 11 at the hastily built camp. U.S. officials describe the prisoners as among the most dangerous fighters of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network and Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime.
There has been an international outcry over the treatment of the detainees at "Camp X-Ray", as the United States has refused to grant them prisoner-of-war status under the terms of the Geneva Convention. However, officials insist they are being treated humanely.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared that captured Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters shipped to Guantanamo were "unlawful combatants" not entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions, the laws governing the rights of persons captured during armed conflict.
Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based non-governmental organization, noted that the Geneva Conventions dictate that all captured fighters, including "unlawful combatants," are entitled to humane treatment, including basic shelter, clothing, food and medical attention.
HRW argued that doubt about their legal status, a competent tribunal - not the Secretary of Defense - must determine case by case which detainees should be considered prisoners of war. Until such a determination, the prisoners are to be accorded the rights of POWs.
Since then, Secretary of State Colin Powell has asked President George W. Bush to declare that the United States is bound by the Geneva Conventions, sparking a major debate within the administration.
Officials have refused to discuss details of the interrogations. Lehnert has said some detainees could be returned home as a result, if their countries agree to prosecute them.
Additional reporting by S.M. Khalid, IOL Washington correspondent
|
