Red Cross blasts Guantanamo prison
Christophe Girod, the senior Red Cross official in Washington, said it was unacceptable that the 600 detainees should be held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay without legal safeguards. The Red Cross is the only organisation with access to the detainees. His criticism came as a group of American former judges, diplomats and military officers called on the US Supreme Court to examine the legality of holding the foreign nationals for almost two years, without trial, charge or access to lawyers. Mr Girod said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was making the unusually blunt public statement because of a lack of action after previous private contacts with American officials. "One cannot keep these detainees in this pattern, this situation, indefinitely," following a visit to the prison. Although he did not criticise any physical conditions at the camp, he said it was intolerable that the complex was used as "an investigation centre, not a detention centre". "The open-endedness of the situation and its impact on the mental health of the population has become a major problem," he told the New York Times but camp officials claim that the mental health problems of detainees existed before they arrived. Christine Huskey, an American lawyer representing 28 Kuwaiti inmates, told the BBC she had had "absolutely" no access to them. "I represent a ghost," she said. In the past 18 months, 21 detainees have made 32 suicide attempts, and many more are being treated for depression, the New York Times says. Mr Girod says prisoners who spoke to his team regularly asked about what was going to happen to them. The US sent the inmates to Guantanamo deliberately so that they would have no access to US constitutional guarantees. Last week an Australian lawyer who represents two Australians being held at Guantanamo said inmates were being submitted to torture. US officials have denied torturing detainees, saying they are allowed to practise their religion and are given good medical care.* * * From BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-