Guardian Utd (Feb 20): Guantanamo Britons emerge from legal purgatory

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From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Friday February 20

Guantanamo Britons emerge from their legal purgatory
Tania Branigan, Steven Morris, Vikram Dodd, and Julian Borger n Washington

Two years of legal limbo for five of the nine Britons held at Guantanamo Bay, which has led to a festering diplomatic sore between the UK and US and provoked worldwide condemnation, finally ended yesterday.
Within weeks the men, who were seized in the wake of the September 11 attacks on suspicion of having terrorist links, will be flown by military jet to a British air base.
They are expected to be interviewed by anti-terrorist officers and though the British government said they could face arrest on terrorist charges, it is thought most likely that they will be freed.
The breakthrough follows months of wrangling between London and Washington but will not draw a line under the issue. Tony Blair will now come under increasing pressure to secure the release of four more prisoners still being held.

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The Guantanamo prison camps and the rules under which the inmates are detained contravene the Third Geneva Convention. They are a major human rights violation for which Mr. Bush and his junta are directly responsible.

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1. Amnesty International: Guantánamo Bay is a human rights scandal

From Amnesty International
No date provided

Guantánamo Bay: a human rights scandal

Despite a major international outcry and expert condemnation of US government policy, hundreds of people of around 40 different nationalities remain held without charge or trial at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, without access to any court, legal counsel or family visits. Denied their rights under international law and held in conditions which may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, the detainees face severe psychological distress. There have been numerous suicide attempts.
Many of those held were captured during the international conflict in Afghanistan, from where transfers to the Naval Base began in January 2002 under harsh conditions of transportation. Others were arrested elsewhere and handed over to the US authorities. Sporadic transfers to, and releases from, the base continue, but the precise numbers, identities and nationalities of those held has never been made public.

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