Child prisoners of Guantanamo Bay

LONDON - The notorious US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay has been hit by fresh claims of human rights abuses, with allegations that dozens of children as young as 14 were sent there.

Lawyers in London estimate that more than 60 detainees held at the terrorists' prison camp were boys under 18 when they were captured.

They include at least 10 detainees still held at the US base in Cuba who were 14 or 15 when they were seized - including child soldiers who were held in solitary confinement, repeatedly interrogated and allegedly tortured.

The disclosures threaten to plunge the Bush Administration into a fresh row with Britain, its closest ally in the so-called "war on terror", only days after Britain's Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, repeated his demands for the closure of the facility which was, he said, a "symbol of injustice".

The report from legal rights group Reprieve contradicts the Bush Administration's assurances that no juveniles have been held there.

"We would take a very, very dim view if it transpires that there were actually minors there," said one British Government official.

One child prisoner, Mohamed el Gharani, is accused of involvement in a 1998 al Qaeda plot in London led by the alleged al Qaeda leader in Europe, Abu Qatada.

He was 12 years old at the time of the plot and living with his parents in Saudi Arabia. After being arrested in Karachi in October 2001, aged 14, he has spent several years in solitary custody as an alleged al Qaeda fighter.

Canadian-born Omar Khadr was 15 when arrested in 2002 and has also been kept in solitary confinement.

The son of a known al Qaeda commander, he is accused of killing a US soldier in July 2002 and was placed top of the Bush Administration's list of detainees facing prosecution.

"It would surely be really quite stupid to allow the world to think you have teenagers in orange jumpsuits and shackles, spending 23 hours a day locked up in a cage," a source said.

"If it's true that young people have been held there, their cases should be dealt with as a priority."

British officials said they had been assured that any juveniles would be held in a special facility for children at Guantanamo called Camp Iguana.

But the US admits only three inmates were ever treated as children - three young Afghans, one aged 13, who were released in 2004 after a furore over their detention.

The row will again focus attention on the Bush Administration's repeated claims that normal rules of war and human rights do not apply to "enemy combatants" who were al Qaeda or Taleban fighters and supporters.

The US insists these fighters did not have the same legal status as soldiers in uniform.

Clive Stafford Smith, a legal director of Reprieve and lawyer for a number of detainees, said it broke every accepted legal convention on human rights to put children in the same prison as adults - including US law.

"There is nothing wrong with trying minors for crimes, if they have committed crimes. The problem is when you either hold minors without trial in shocking conditions, or try them before a military commission that, in the words of a prosecutor who refused to take part, is rigged," he said.

"Even if these kids were involved in fighting - and Omar is the only one who the military pretends was - then there is a UN convention against the use of child soldiers.

"There is a general recognition in the civilised world that children should be treated differently."

Because the detainees have been held in Cuba for four years, all the teenagers are now thought to have reached their 18th birthdays in jail and some have since been released.

The latest figures emerged after the US Defence Department was forced to release the first-ever list of Guantanamo detainees this month.

Although lawyers say it is riddled with errors - getting numerous names and dates of birth wrong - they were able to confirm that 17 detainees on the list were under 18 when taken to the camp, and a further seven were probably juveniles.

In addition, said Stafford Smith, they had credible evidence from other detainees, lawyers and the Red Cross that a further 37 inmates were under 18 when they were seized.

One detainee, an al-Jazeera journalist called Sami el Hajj, has identified 36 juveniles in Guantanamo.

A senior Pentagon spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Jeffrey Gordon, insisted that no one now being held at Guantanamo Bay was a juvenile and said the Defence Department also rejected arguments that normal criminal law was relevant to the Guantanamo Bay detainees.

"There is no international standard concerning the age of an individual who engages in combat operations ... Age is not a determining factor in detention [of those] engaged in armed conflict against our forces or in support to those fighting against us."

ENEMIES OF AMERICA

Mohamed el Gharani

* Accused of involvement in a 1998 al Qaeda plot in London led by the alleged al Qaeda leader in Europe, Abu Qatada.

* He was 12 years old at the time and living with his parents in Saudi Arabia.

* After being arrested in Karachi in October 2001, aged 14, he has spent several years in solitary confinement as an alleged al Qaeda-trained fighter.

Omar Khadr

* The Canadian-born Muslim was 15 when arrested in 2002 and has also been kept in solitary confinement.

* The son of a known al Qaeda commander, he is accused of killing a US soldier with a grenade in July 2002.

- INDEPENDENT