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AFP. 16 January 2002. Growing polemic over detainees in Cuba puts US in embarrassing spot. WASHINGTON -- Controversy over the conditions in which prisoners from Afghanistan are being detained at a US base in Cuba, and their legal status, is growing, putting the United States in an embarrassing spot. Prominent human rights advocates are protesting not just the detainees' conditions, but their lack of protection under the Geneva Convention, which outlines conditions of treatment for prisoners of war. Amnesty International has questioned "alleged ill-treatment of prisoners in transit and in Guantanamo, including reports that they were hooded, shackled, and sedated during transfer." "Degrading treatment of prisoners is a flagrant violation of international law which cannot be justified under any circumstances," the London-based group said. In Geneva, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said she was very concerned about allegations over the treatment of the prisoners. "We are very concerned and are seeking to obtain more information," she told journalists. "It is important at a time of difficulty that human rights and international humanitarian standards be purely upheld and observed." New York-based Human Rights Watch has requested access to the prisoners, and expressed concern over their ambiguous legal standing. "They should be treated as POW (prisoners of war) until a proper procedure, on an individual basis, can determine their status," James Ross, a legal advisor for the group, told AFP. He decried the housing provided at Guantanamo -- small cells with chain link fencing for walls, concrete floors and wooden roofs. "Housing conditions, in cages partly exposed to the elements, is contrary to the Geneva Convention. There is no reason for that. They should not have been sent (to Cuba) before the US could provide proper housing." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday he did not feel "even the slightest concern" about their treatment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
