Guantanamo must be on EU-US agenda

10.55.03am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 20th Jun 2006

Liberal Democrat European justice spokeswoman Baroness Sarah Ludford MEP is calling for EU leaders to use this week's EU-US summit to call for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. She said:

"For over 4 years the EU said nothing while the Bush administration attempted to normalise illegal imprisonment and torture as weapons in the so-called 'war on terror'. As the world stood idly by, three men took their own lives."

Post-mortem examinations are now being carried out on two Saudi inmates who hanged themselves in the prison camp after claims from their families that the men would not have committed suicide. Sarah Ludford continued:

"Although the Lord Chancellor said last week that the complete disregard for legal process at Guantanamo Bay was "intolerable and wrong," constituents of mine like Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil al-Banna and Omar Deghayes are still languishing in that hell-hole."

"It is high time for EU leaders to jointly and formally insist that all detainees are either released or given a fair trial in accordance with international standards. Wednesday's meeting with Bush provides the perfect opportunity for them to do just that, and I hope they will take it."

Notes

-The European Parliament last week adopted a resolution calling for immediate closure of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. To read the resolution please go to: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/omk/sipade3?TYPE-DOC=TA&REF=P6-TA-2006-0254&MODE=SIP&L=EN&LSTDOC=N