US 'must close Guantanamo camp'

BBC

The US should close the Guantanamo Bay camp in Cuba and any secret "war on terror" detention facilities abroad, a United Nations report has said.
The UN Committee against Torture said that detaining persons in such conditions was a violation of the UN Convention against Torture.

It also urged the US to put in place "immediate measures" to eradicate torture of detainees by its troops.

The committee's report follows a hearing in early May into US conduct.

"The state party should cease to detain any person at Guantanamo Bay and close the detention facility," the 11-page report said.

It also told the US to ensure no-one was detained in any secret detention facility.

"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.

The report also urged the US to "rescind any interrogation technique" that constituted torture, such as the use of dogs to scare detainees.

It criticised vague guidelines that it said had led to serious abuse of detainees and techniques which "have resulted in the deaths of some detainees during interrogation".

The report was compiled by a panel of 10 experts who heard testimony in early May from a delegation of US officials into its "war on terror" conduct.