Guantanamo Bay must close

12.00.00am GMT Wed 31st May 2006

In today's debate held in the plenary on the situation of the prisoners in Guantanamo, Liz LYNNE (Lib Dem, UK) and Sarah LUDFORD (Lib Dem, UK), speaking on behalf of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, unreservedly condemned all forms of torture or abusive treatment of the prisoners and called on US authorities to grant unimpeded access to the detainees for UN bodies and human rights organisations to Guantanamo Bay.

"The EU should be forceful in matching its rhetoric on human rights with a willingness to tell our closest and most important ally that Guantanamo is both a scandal and a setback in the fight against terrorism", said Sarah LUDFORD.

"The US must either release prisoners if there is no evidence against them or try them under international law. Anything else will be a travesty of justice. We must also have answers about whether dozens of children have been incarcerated there as recently alleged. The EU must be tough and not let the American government off the hook," added Liz LYNNE, co-author of the resolution for the ALDE group.

Four years after the first prisoners arrived, not one has received a proper trial and 500 remain in confinement, the vast majority without charge or due legal process. The United Nations recently published a report which suggests that the treatment of detainees meets the definition of torture under the UN Convention against Torture. The authors conclude that the US Government should either expeditiously bring the detainees to trial, or release them without delay.

The text of the resolution backed by a majority of the political groups (but opposed by the EPP-ED) will be voted tomorrow. It calls explicitly for the US authorities to implement the UNCAT recommendations and to immediately stop all 'special interrogation techniques', including methods involving sexual humiliation, 'water boarding', 'short shackling' and using dogs to induce fear, that constitute torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.