GUANTANAMO PRISON A 'TOXIC LEGACY'

The US government's failure to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay naval base is leaving "a toxic legacy for human rights", a charity said today.

Amnesty International condemned the failing on the 10th anniversary of the first detainees arriving at the American detention centre in Cuba.

In a new report, entitled Guantanamo: A Decade of Damage to Human Rights, the charity said the unlawful treatment of Guantanamo detainees underlines reasons why the detention centre continues to represent an attack on human rights.

It called for an end to indefinite detention at Guantanamo and the charity has set up an online petition to President Barack Obama calling for its closure.

Of the 171 men still held at the camp at least 12 were in the original group first transferred to Guantanamo on January 11 2002, Amnesty said.

One of them is serving a life sentence after being convicted by a military commission in 2008 but none of the other 11 has been charged, the charity added.

Londoner Shaker Aamer, 43, is among them and his father-in-law Saeed Siddique said it has torn their family apart.

Mr Aamer, who has been held at Guantanamo since February 2002, is originally from Saudi Arabia but is married to a British citizen and has four British children.

He said: "It is a great injustice for the family. The family has been torn apart for 10 years. Shaker has been detained without being charged for 10 years. What kind of justice is this?"

Supporters have written to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling for a fair trial for Mr Aamer or his immediate release.

Kate Allen, UK director for Amnesty International, said: "It's an absolute disgrace that Shaker Aamer is still behind bars at Guantanamo - without a trial, without access to his family, almost without hope.

"Britain needs to put its foot down with the Americans. We know that the Foreign Secretary William Hague has already called for Shaker's release. He should now insist on a specific timetable for this to happen - within days or weeks, not months or years."

In 10 years, only one of the 779 detainees held at the base has been transferred to the US for prosecution in a federal court. Others have faced unfair trials by military commission and the administration is currently intending to seek the death penalty against six of the detainees at such trials, Amnesty said.

Current Guantanamo detainees include those who were subjected to torture and enforced disappearance prior to being transferred to the camp, the report added


©Press Association 2012