By Brian Johnson - 31st May 2006
The European parliament has put back its vote on a resolution calling on Washington to close down its Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
MEPs were due to vote on the resolution - which calls for the US to implement the recommendations of a recent earlier UN report to end “cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment” to detainees - on Thursday.
Addressing MEPs in Brussels on Wednesday, Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik said Guantanamo an “anomaly” and a “genuine cause for concern” and called for its closure.
“Guantanamo is an anomaly…the US must take measures to close the camp as soon as possible.”
The camp holds around 500 prisoners, some including Taliban and Al qaida suspects have been held for more than four years without trial.
“Four years after the first prisoners arrived, not one has received a proper trial and 500 remain in confinement, the vast majority without charge or due legal process,” said Liberal MEP Liz Lyne
“The US must either release prisoners if there is no evidence against them or try them under international law. Anything else will be a travesty of justice.”
“Torture and interrogation must be stopped immediately,” said Green MEP Cem Özdemir.
“The US has to grant UN bodies and human rights organisations unimpeded access to the detention centre at Guantanamo.”
Most MEPs backed Plassnik’s call for the camp’s closure, but a number of deputies indicated that the parliament’s resolution should be delayed to include the findings from a group of MEPs including the parliament’s foreign affairs chairman Elmar Brok, who visited the camp in May.
MEPs will now vote on the resolution at Strasbourg during the June plenary session, according to a parliament official.
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