plans for Guantanamo

["James Daly" <james.irldaly@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

US plans death camp

26May03

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.

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