UN Watchdog Calls for Guantanamo Closure

The US should shut Guantanamo Bay and give detainees access to a fair trial or release them, a UN human rights watchdog said today.

The UN committee against torture voiced concern that detainees were being held at the camp for long periods without judicial scrutiny of the reasons for their detention, adding that Guantanamo detainees had insufficient legal safeguards.

"The state party should cease to detain any person at Guantanamo Bay and close the detention facility," a committee report, published today, said.

The committee - part of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - expressed concern over allegations that the US had established secret prisons around the world at which the international Red Cross aid agency did not have access to detainees.

The watchdog called on the US to ensure that nobody was detained in secret detention centres under its control and reveal the existence of any such facilities.

"The state party should investigate and disclose the existence of any such facilities and the authority under which they have been established and the manner in which detainees are treated," the report said.

Detainees at Guantanamo and other camps should not be returned to any countries where they could face a "real risk" of torture, the committee added.

The report said the US must "take immediate measures to eradicate all forms of torture and ill-treatment" committed by its personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. It called on Washington to investigate allegations thoroughly, prosecuting any personnel found guilty.

Earlier this month, the US made in its first appearance before the Geneva-based committee against torture in six years.

It was called to address a series of issues ranging from Washington's interpretation of the UN's absolute ban on torture to its interrogation methods in Guantanamo and the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Photos of abuse committed by US troops at the Baghdad prison sparked international outrage, while hundreds of "enemy combatants" are still being held at Guantanamo as part of the "war on terror".

The committee said the US should halt interrogation techniques constituting torture or cruel treatment, citing methods including sexual humiliation, mock drownings and the use of dogs to induce fear.

Its report said some methods of interrogation had "resulted in the death of some detainees", and criticised vague US guidelines on the treatment of detainees that "have led to serious abuse".

US officials in Geneva have so far declined to comment on the committee's findings.

Guantanamo has been criticised by human rights campaigners and governments across the world. Earlier this month, the attorney general, Lord Goldsmith, called for the immediate closure of the camp, claiming its existence was "unacceptable".

However, the Bush administration has consistently defended the treatment of detainees at the facility, insisting its existence is legal under international law.