British MPs given "antiseptic tour" of Guantanamo

"(British) MPs who have visited Guantanamo Bay have called on the government to help the US find ways to close the camp.

"Seven Foreign Affairs Committee members visited the detention centre for 'enemy combatants' in Cuba in September ...

"The report was described as 'disappointing' by opposition MPs and human rights groups ...

'Missed opportunity'
"Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather, who represents a 10-year-old constituent whose father is being held at the camp, said the committee appeared to have been given 'the VIP antiseptic tour'.

"'The committee were given no direct access to prisoners, and they do not appear to have taken evidence either from former detainees, or lawyers or families of current detainees,' she said.

"Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, who chairs the all party Parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition, said the report did not address the main issue, 'which is whether US detention policy, whether in Guantanamo or elsewhere, is making the US, UK and the West more secure or less'.

"Amnesty International said the report was a 'missed opportunity'.

"'We would have liked to have seen the committee unequivocally backing Amnesty International's long-standing call for Guantanamo to be closed immediately,' said the organisation's UK director Kate Allen.

"'We do not share the committee's apparent confidence that abuse is unlikely to be taking place now,' she added.

"Clive Stafford Smith, legal director of charity Reprieve which represents 38 prisoners at the base, said the report was 'full of factual errors' and largely based on a 'show tour'."

Tagged: guantanamo, usa, torture, human+rights, uk, civil+rights, rendition