Photos breach prisoner rules says Red Cross

22 Jan, 2002 09:41 AM4 mins to read

LONDON - The Red Cross yesterday accused the United States of violating the Geneva Conventions by releasing official photographs of the Taleban and al Qaeda fighters being held at the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison camp.

The charity, whose inspection teams are interviewing the prisoners at the US base on Cuba, said that the conventions clearly forbade exposing prisoners of war to "public curiosity".

It believes the men should be treated as prisoners of war, rather than "unlawful combatants" as the US continues to describe them. Pentagon photographs showed them shackled and wearing masks and goggles.

The accusation came as the British Government said the three Britons among the 144 prisoners at Camp X-Ray had not been tortured or ill-treated and had "no substantial complaints".

Darcey Christen, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, said the third Geneva Convention was clear when it said prisoners of war should not be exposed to "public curiosity". "The pictures will not tell us as much as a private talk with the prisoners. And if we saw [the pictures], our team in Guantanamo certainly did as well."

Amid the growing controversy, a federal judge in Los Angeles was to hear a petition backed by former Attorney-General Ramsey Clark and other civil rights advocates, claiming that the detention of prisoners without charge is illegal.

Yesterday there were some signs that the Pentagon is bending a little, perhaps genuinely surprised at the extent of the outrage. In addition to passing out copies of the Koran and makeshift prayer mats for the prisoners, it said it was now arranging for a Muslim cleric to be brought to the base to lead prayers and for the call to prayer to be broadcast over the camp's tannoy system.

A spokesman for the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, said that the report by British officials said the three men captured in Afghanistan had "no substantial complaints" about their treatment.

"They were in good physical health and there was no sign of any mistreatment," he said. "No one is pretending that the facilities are luxurious. They are not. They are basic and fit the requirements of the detainees."

The officials' report to the Foreign Office said the prisoners were wearing the masks, goggles only on their arrival at the base and that the shackles were worn only when they were outside their cells.

They were receiving three meals a day, including a pre-packed Islamic meal for lunch, and as much water as they needed. They also had daily medical checks.

Downing Street confirmed that one of the Britons was Feroz Abbasi, 22, from Croydon, South London. It declined to disclose the identity of the other two Britons being held at the camp.

The latest 14 detainees to arrive at the Guantanamo Bay Navy base were wounded Taleban and al Qaeda prisoners. They were all on stretchers and officials said that most of the other arrivals due soon would be wounded detainees who could be given better medical treatment at the base than in the field in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Officials also announced that a Navy Muslim cleric was being sent to the base to give guidance on religious issues.

Asked about the images yesterday, US Marine Brigadier-General Michael Lehnert, commander of the taskforce running the prison operation, said the detainees shown had just arrived at the base and were being held in a central holding area until they were processed and moved to cells.

"It's a security precaution primarily to keep them from moving around.

"For the purposes of security, both for the protection of detainees and security personnel, we tell them to kneel down. If they are injured in any way they sit. They are not there very long.

"As soon as we can get them processed, they are taken out one at a time ... given a shower."

The prisoners were then given a medical check, taken to their cells and provided with something to eat and drink.

Meanwhile, though pledges of aid to Afghanistan exceeded the United Nations' $US1.7 billion ($4.02 billion) estimate of how much the country will require over the next year, officials at an international donors' conference warned yesterday that the challenge now is seeing the money gets to where it needs to go.

Japan's state-run television network, NHK, and Kyodo News Service said $US4.5 billion in aid had been pledged by the close of the two-day meeting.

Official figures were to be released later in the day, and officials refused to comment before that.

Few details were given about the rules for spending the aid money. Often, donor countries require their aid be used to buy goods from companies in those countries. Private aid groups have expressed concerns about such conditions.

- AGENCIES

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