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U.K.
Parliament Committee Warn On Camp X-Ray Treatment
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| The Afghan
POWs hunger strike was prompted by a U.S. guard stripping a prisoner of
his turban during prayer.. |
LONDON,
March 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The British foreign affairs
committee accused the U.S. government of human rights violations at Camp X-Ray,
as two-thirds of the 300 prisoners in Guantanamo maintained a hunger strike,
news agencies reported.
The
cross-party ministerial committee voiced concerns about the treatment of the
Afghan prisoners – who include five Britons – being held by the U.S.
authorities at Camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The
U.S. must act "in accordance with international standards at all times,
even if those standards might appear not to be deserved by those to whom they
are being applied," their report on the Government's Human Rights Report
2001 said Thursday, February 28, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"It
is both right, and it strengthens any representations we may make on behalf of
our own nationals who may become prisoners in future.
"Furthermore,
any conduct to the contrary would weaken the international coalition against
terrorism."
The
comments came as two-thirds of the 300 detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
continued a hunger strike in the first palpable resistance since the transfer of
Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters to the U.S. naval base in Cuba began January 11.
The
hunger strike began Wednesday, February 27 at the prisoners' noon meal, growing
in numbers at dinner that evening and at breakfast on Thursday, said Marine
Corps Major Steve Cox, a spokesman at the naval base.
Detainees
chanted in unison "God is Great, there is not God but Allah," and
shoved their bedding and other "comfort items" under the chain link
fencing enclosing their cells during a 45 minute demonstration Thursday morning,
he added.
Troops
from a reaction force surrounded the camp in HUMVEES, he said.
"There
were no confrontations between guards and detainees," said Cox. "It
was simply a prudent security measure on our part in the event the situation
escalated, but it never did escalate."
The
protest was sparked by a U.S. soldier removing a turban-like headdress from a
prisoner who was praying. The prisoner was described as having broken the rules
by wearing a turban fashioned out of a bedsheet.
The
guard went into the cell and took it off his head after the prisoner apparently
ignored repeated orders to remove it, said Cox.
The
camp's military commanders learned later that the prisoner had not responded
because he was praying, and Islamic custom requires complete concentration on
the prayer, he added.
News
of the incident apparently swept through the camp by word of mouth because at
the noon meal the following day, 154 inmates refused their meals, he said.
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| The Afghan
POWs are tense over their uncertain legal situation, U.S. Marine Maj.
Steve Cox said. |
The
prisoners have not declared themselves to be on hunger strike and made no
specific demands, although they have complained about a lack of understanding by
the guards of Islamic religious customs and practices, the officials said.
Military
commanders have found an underlying current of tension among the Afghan POWs
over their uncertain legal situation, Cox said.
"They
don't know what is going to happen to them,” he told AFP. “They don't know
when something might happen. They don't know if something will happen to
them."
"That's
the real issue, the overarching issue is just the tension associated with
uncertainty, uncertainty over their future," he said.
U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday, February 26, that the Pentagon
will soon be ready to set up military commissions to try Afghan prisoners at
Guantanamo, but interrogations for the purpose of prosecution were just
beginning and no charges have been brought so far.
U.S.
handling of the prisoners has been a source of controversy since detainees were
first marched onto military aircraft in Afghanistan in shackles and hoods for
the more than 20 hour flight to the isolated base on the southeastern tip of
Cuba.
Another
194 prisoners remain in U.S. military custody in Afghanistan.
Washington
has come under criticism from human rights groups, the International Committee
of the Red Cross and some European allies for refusing to treat the detainees as
prisoners of war and keeping them in legal limbo.
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