- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Attorneys: UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Must Be Granted Access to Gitmo

© REUTERS / Brennan Linsley/Pool/FilesIn this 2009 file photo, reviewed by the U.S. military, an American flag fluttering in the wind is pictured through a broken window from inside an airplane hangar used for media activities at Camp Justice, the site of the U.S. war crimes tribunal compound, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba, July 16, 2009
In this 2009 file photo, reviewed by the U.S. military, an American flag fluttering in the wind is pictured through a broken window from inside an airplane hangar used for media activities at Camp Justice, the site of the U.S. war crimes tribunal compound, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba, July 16, 2009 - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture must be granted meaningful access to probe into torture allegations at the Guantanamo Bay facility, defense attorney James Connell said Friday.

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE (Sputnik), Joanne Stocker — The US military must grant the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture meaningful access to investigate allegations of torture at the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Connell told reporters at a press conference at the military base.

"At this time, it is one person’s word against another, but it should not be, and that is why we have filed a motion on behalf of [detainee] Mr. [Ammar] al-Baluchi to require JTF-Gitmo [Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay] to fulfill the United States’ responsibilities for inspection by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, the world’s leading expert on prison conditions in confinement," Connell stated.

On Thursday, Guantanamo detainee Guleed Hassan Dourad testified before the US war court that he and other detainees are subjected to near-daily mental torture inside Camp 7 at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

A lawyer for a Guantanamo detainee accused of being involved in the 9/11 attacks alleged Thursday that his client is being mistreated at the facility and may have developed colon cancer as a result. - Sputnik International
CIA Torture Victim Zubaydah Hopes to Talk on His Case in Court at Gitmo
UN Special Rapporteur Juan Mendez has previously stated that the situation in Guantanamo Bay, including the practice of torture and indefinite detention, is a human rights concern.

Connell explained on Friday that US officials have officially invited Mendez to the military base but the conditions they imposed on his visit, including limiting his access to facilities and detainees, does not fulfill his UN mandate.

However, Mendez has agreed to limit his visit to the five men charged in the September 11 cases, Connell stated.

In its response to the defense motion, the US government asserted that any issues with confinement at Guantanamo Bay should be under the authority of Joint Task Force Gitmo.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала