No proof of Taleban prisoners abuse says PM

By FRANCESCA MOLD

Prime Minister Helen Clark has accepted assurances from the British Government that Taleban and al Qaeda prisoners held at a military base in Cuba are being treated humanely.

Helen Clark was unwilling yesterday to join in criticism of the United States by human rights groups that prisoners, photographed wearing handcuffs, shackles and blacked-out goggles, were being mistreated.

"All we can say is the British team did not see any evidence of mistreatment and it's good news that the Red Cross are also there taking a look," she said.

"The New Zealand Government believes people should be treated humanely in accordance with international law."

The Prime Minister said there was debate about whether those being held were prisoners of war or "unlawful combatants".

"Just what the law is in this case is not entirely clear."

Asked if she agreed that the prisoners should have had their hair and beards shaved off, she said she did not want to rush into making judgments about issues she had not been following closely.

The Greens have urged the Government to speak out against the "degrading" treatment of the prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay naval base.

Greens foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke said the Bush Administration seemed to be bent on humiliating prisoners, against whom no charges had yet been laid.

"New Zealand has a moral responsibility to speak out."

A British delegation interviewed prisoners at the camp several days ago and reported they had no complaints, were in good physical health and showed no sign of being mistreated. The Red Cross is also talking to prisoners.

Helen Clark also yesterday threw doubt on statements by the German Secretary of Defence, Rudolf Scharping, in a newspaper article that New Zealand soldiers had been helping renovate buildings in Afghanistan in preparation for the arrival of peacekeeping forces.

The only New Zealand soldiers likely to have been in Afghanistan at the time of the January 8 article were the SAS.

But the Government has consistently refused to discuss their deployment.

Helen Clark said Mr Scharping's suggestion was far-fetched.

"I have commented that building latrines isn't their core business," she said.

"But then I haven't commented on whether they [the SAS] are there or not.

"What I can tell you is they are very well regarded for their counter-terrorism and tracking skills and that's their core business."

When pressed on the issue, she said: "I'm not commenting on where they are or what they're doing. But people have to live somewhere."

National's defence spokesman, Max Bradford, said the Government should reassure New Zealanders that the SAS troops were being used in the roles they were trained for, not to build camps.

Meanwhile, Associate Foreign Affairs Minister Matt Robson has outlined New Zealand's contribution to the international effort to rebuild Afghanistan at a Tokyo conference involving 60 countries.

New Zealand could not match the large financial donations promised by other countries, but it could help with the re-building of government, the removal of land mines and setting up irrigation programmes.

Mr Robson also suggested that each country at the conference put 1 per cent of their defence budgets towards assistance to developing countries, such as Afghanistan.

"Terrorism and violence breed in poverty and as we have seen, the consequences of that for the whole world can be devastating."

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