Guantanamo prison closure would help war on terror: UK MP
Regional-UK, Politics, 6/3/2006

Labor MP Diane Abbott is calling on the British government to facilitate a parliamentary visit to Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, arguing that the closure of the US concentration camp would help the war on terror.

"We need to demonstrate that when we talk about civil liberties, freedom and enduring international values, it is not just talk but something that we mean," said Abbott, who is a previous member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Last week in parliament, the backbench MP said that there had been 'important benchmarks' set by the UN Committee Against Torture concluding that the conditions in the camp constitute torture and the UK attorney general calling for its closure.

"The attorney general is not the only person who has called for the closure of Guantanamo. The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for that, as have Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch," she said.

Abbot, who is Britain's only Black woman MP, said that the US cannot have it both ways in saying they are holding people indefinitely without trial or charge because they are at war and refuse to accept that the Geneva Convention applies.

She also called on the UK government to do more for British residents still held in Guantanamo, saying that although it is not normal consular practice, "it is also not the practice of Britain to stand on the side while people are undergoing torture."

Prime Minister Tony Blair has yet to go as far as the government's attorney general in calling for the closure of the internment camp, referring instead to call it an "anomaly."

But the Labor MP said that Blair should take advantage of his special relationship with US President George W. Bush to raise the issue "in more emphatic and public terms than he has hitherto."

"There is much more that our Government and Prime Minister can do to close down Guantanamo once and for all. That would represent an advance in the war against terror," she said.

Previous Stories:
  Iraq war caused London bombs: Muslim leader   (6/2/2006)
  Muslim divisions remain in UK town 5 years after civil unrest   (5/25/2006)
  30 percent of the Guantánamo detainees cleared but can't go home   (4/22/2006)
  Pentagon forced to release names of Guantanamo detainees   (3/4/2006)

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