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Rights Group Condemns U.S. Over Guantanamo
By JAN SLIVA
Associated Press Writer
04/26/05 "AP" - - STRASBOURG, France -- Europe's human rights body condemned the United States on Tuesday for using what it termed "torture" on terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and it called on European countries not to cooperate in interrogating Guantanamo detainees.
A Pentagon spokesman said the United States was running "a safe, humane and professional detention operation at Guantanamo that is providing valuable information in the war on terror."
In a resolution, the Council of Europe also urged the United States to cease the practice of secret detentions and to investigate all instances of unlawful treatment of detainees at the naval base in eastern Cuba.
"The circumstances surrounding detentions by the USA at Guantanamo Bay show unlawfulness on grounds including the torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees," said the resolution, adopted by the Council's Parliamentary Assembly.
While supporting the United States in its efforts to fight terrorism, the resolution said Washington had "betrayed its own highest principles in the zeal with which it has attempted to pursue the war on terror."
The U.S. government has denied using torture at the base, but investigations into alleged abuse there are ongoing.
"U.S. policy condemns and prohibits torture," Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Flex Plexico said. "U.S. personnel are required to follow this policy and applicable law."
He said Guantanamo detainees receive adequate shelter and clothing, culturally appropriate meals, the Quran, prayer beads, access to mail and reading materials, and medical care.
About 520 detainees from more than 40 countries remain at Guantanamo, many of them captured during the war in Afghanistan launched after the Sept. 11 attacks. More than 200 people have been released, but many were freed on the condition they would be held by their home countries.
"What we see in Guantanamo has nothing to do with justice," council member Boris Oliynik said. "The conditions there are medieval."
The resolution also criticizes the practice of "rendition," or removing suspects to other countries without judicial supervision for purposes of interrogation or detention.
It also calls on European countries to refuse to comply with U.S. requests for extradition of terrorist suspects to the camp and urges the United States to stop violating Guantanamo detainees' rights relating to their status as prisoners of war.
"The situation of prisoners at Guantanamo is very far from acceptable international standards," said Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Russian Duma's international affairs committee and member of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly.
"Those who fought under the Taliban flag against the United States should be granted POW status."
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