Posted on 06/23/2005 8:47:55 PM PDT by Crackingham
United Nations human rights experts yesterday said they had reliable accounts of inmates being tortured at Guantanamo Bay and accused the United States of hindering their attempts to visit detainees at the US naval base in Cuba.
The four independent experts said the US had not responded to numerous requests to check the condition of terrorist suspects at the camp. They said their request for a visit was "based on information, from reliable sources, of serious allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, arbitrary detention, violations of their right to health and their due process rights".
The experts, who report to UN bodies on different human rights issues, have been trying to visit Guantanamo since early 2002. They said they had yet to hear back from Washington on their latest request - made a year ago and renewed in mid-April - to visit the camp. A US spokeswoman said the request was still being reviewed.
"The writ of international human rights does not stop at the gates of Guantanamo Bay," said Paul Hunt, of New Zealand, one of the experts whose role is to monitor physical and mental health.
Manfred Nowak, of Austria, an expert on torture, said: "We are not making a judgment if torture or treatment under degrading conditions has taken place." However, he said the failure of Washington to respond was leading them to conclude the US had something to hide. "At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government," he said.
The experts' statement said: "We deeply regret that the government of the United States has still not invited us to visit those persons arrested, detained or tried on grounds of alleged terrorism or other violations."
"expert on torture"--OK give this guy an award.
He probably belongs to a porno website.
Shouldn't they be doing their own research into TORTURE BY SADDAM, et al.....???? Or is that just too "yesterday" for them. Or, how about the Sudan? Or, how about the recent torture chambers uncovered in IRAQ????? SHEESH.
The US does not answer to the United Nations.
We should open Gitmo to them, just to prove that they are wrong in their allegations. It would also serve to smack Durbin in the mouth, when the truth comes out that Gitmo is more club med than anything else.
It's the seriousness of the charge!
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Yeah, the old liberal mantra. The U.N. should be sprayed with cockroach poison, get rid of them. Send their remains to some remote place OFF of U.S. soil. The stench is just too much to bear.
They had "reliable accounts" of Sadaam's torture chambers and yet they did nothing.
This is so rich
They were already angry. Whats the big deal. Now they can actually get attention now. Geez this is getting ridiculous... I dont know to laugh or cry.
We will never 'prove' anything to them.
Okay, not to pick on the media (hahahahaha) but does the body of the story actually support the headline with any confirmation of "anger". I see regret mentioned, but not anger. I might have missed it.
The camp has been opened to the Red Cross, who could find no violations. The UN should be told to check with the ICRC.
One nanny is enough...
Yeah, and shut and lock the gate behind them! "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave."
Talk about an oxymoron!!!
Has Dick apologized on Al-Jazeera yet?
Isn't it ironic that all the anti-war, anti-U.S. and liberal commentators are called "experts"? You would think that everyone who is opposed to the war on terror is an expert while those who support the war are just right-wing zealots.
I don't recall them asking for one!
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