US plans death camp
ellroy | 27.05.2003 14:52
26May03
THE US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber.
THE US has floated plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a death camp, with its own death row and execution chamber.
Prisoners would be tried, convicted and executed without leaving its boundaries, without a jury and without right of appeal, The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported yesterday.
The plans were revealed by Major-General Geoffrey Miller, who is in charge of 680 suspects from 43 countries, including two Australians.
The suspects have been held at Camp Delta on Cuba without charge for 18 months.
General Miller said building a death row was one plan. Another was to have a permanent jail, with possibly an execution chamber.
The Mail on Sunday reported the move is seen as logical by the US, which has been attacked worldwide for breaching the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war since it established the camp at a naval base to hold alleged terrorists from Afghanistan.
But it has horrified human rights groups and lawyers representing detainees.
They see it as the clearest indication America has no intention of falling in line with internationally recognised justice.
The US has already said detainees would be tried by tribunals, without juries or appeals to a higher court. Detainees will be allowed only US lawyers.
British activist Stephen Jakobi, of Fair Trials Abroad, said: "The US is kicking and screaming against any pressure to conform with British or any other kind of international justice."
American law professor Jonathan Turley, who has led US civil rights group protests against the military tribunals planned to hear cases at Guantanamo Bay, said: "It is not surprising the authorities are building a death row because they have said they plan to try capital cases before these tribunals.
"This camp was created to execute people. The administration has no interest in long-term prison sentences for people it regards as hard-core terrorists."
Britain admitted it had been kept in the dark about the plans.
A Downing St spokesman said: "The US Government is well aware of the British Government's position on the death penalty."
This report appears on news.com.au.
The plans were revealed by Major-General Geoffrey Miller, who is in charge of 680 suspects from 43 countries, including two Australians.
The suspects have been held at Camp Delta on Cuba without charge for 18 months.
General Miller said building a death row was one plan. Another was to have a permanent jail, with possibly an execution chamber.
The Mail on Sunday reported the move is seen as logical by the US, which has been attacked worldwide for breaching the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war since it established the camp at a naval base to hold alleged terrorists from Afghanistan.
But it has horrified human rights groups and lawyers representing detainees.
They see it as the clearest indication America has no intention of falling in line with internationally recognised justice.
The US has already said detainees would be tried by tribunals, without juries or appeals to a higher court. Detainees will be allowed only US lawyers.
British activist Stephen Jakobi, of Fair Trials Abroad, said: "The US is kicking and screaming against any pressure to conform with British or any other kind of international justice."
American law professor Jonathan Turley, who has led US civil rights group protests against the military tribunals planned to hear cases at Guantanamo Bay, said: "It is not surprising the authorities are building a death row because they have said they plan to try capital cases before these tribunals.
"This camp was created to execute people. The administration has no interest in long-term prison sentences for people it regards as hard-core terrorists."
Britain admitted it had been kept in the dark about the plans.
A Downing St spokesman said: "The US Government is well aware of the British Government's position on the death penalty."
This report appears on news.com.au.
ellroy
Homepage:
http://news.com.au/common/printpage/0,6093,6494000,00.html
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Fourth Reich
27.05.2003 17:17
See Tommy Franks war crimes:
Last Warning
Homepage:
http://informationclearinghouse.literati.org/article3462.htm
CBC documentary on Camp Delta
28.05.2003 06:36
The CBC reporter said that he was given one of the few media tours of the Guantanamo Bay prison facility called Camp Delta. His interviews with the camp staff were monitored by media minders. The troops were obviously anxious about giving the wrong answer. The party line is "we operate the camp in the spirit of the geneva convention"
The width of the cells is a little more than the span of both the reporter's arms.
The reporter says he was told that the prisoners spend 15 minutes once or twice a week outside of the cell in the prison yard. He says this is more restrictive than most maximum security prisons in the United States.
He talked with the Guantamamo base army psychologist who said that at least 25 per cent of the prisoners that are at Camp Delta can be classified as mentally ill. He said that by that he meant that these would be individuals who could not function in normal society. He said that it is their mental illness that attracts them to terrorism.
The camp commander Miller said that there have been 24 suicide attempts at the camp. The CBC reporter said that this is more than is usually found in a prison during an 18 month period. The commander says that prisoners are being detained to gain useful military intelligence but the CBC reporter questions how useful is the information if a quarter of the population is mentally ill.
The CBC reporter interviewed the Guantanamo Bay army chaplin. The chaplin says that he does not get involved in the morality of what camp delta is doing. The Chaplin says on camera "Well you know Jesus is not here. The army is not a Christian environment."
The CBC reporter said that Pakistan has tried to get a review of its citizens that are being held. Supposedly Pakistan maintains that out of the 58 Pakistanis at the camp, they feel that 50 of their prisoners should not be there. There is one Canadian citizen being detained at the camp, a 15 year old boy who was arrested in Afghanistan.
The report also contains a pro and con discussion between american civl liberties lawyers. As it stands now, the 650 prisoners are being held indefinitely without formal charges and without visitation rights. The Americans have created their own Devils island.
The CBC segment closes with a clip from a propaganda commercial that is show to the troops before an evening movie is shown. The clip has images of the 9/11 airplanes and it closes with "Operation Enduring Freedom....this is only the beginning"
Andrea Pdx