By Michelle Fitzpatrick - 23rd May 2006
MEPs returning from a visit to Guantanamo Bay have called for the US detention centre to be closed.
A delegation of four MEPs received a tour of the notorious prison camp, located in a Cuban US base, on Monday.
Two socialists, Arlene McCarthy and Erika Mann, and two centre right, MEPs Elmar Brok and James Elles attended the visit as part of a US effort to “help broaden understanding”.
Returning from Cuba, McCarthy said she believed the prison camp should be shut down, her call for closure was echoed by German MEPs Elmar Brok and Erika Mann.
“The legal vacuum, in which the prisoners find themselves, is unacceptable by international law,” said Mann.
But UK centre-right MEP James Elles took a more moderate stance.
“Of course it is desirable in the long-term that the detention centre is closed but it is even more desirable that there is an end to the war on terror,” he stated.
“Having visited Guantanamo, I now feel that if you close this detention centre, what is going to happen to these dangerous people?
“If they are released it is probably going to make the war on terror worse, rather than better.”
He went on to suggest that Europeans “do not fully appreciate that America is waging a global war on terror”.
The MEPs agreed that prison conditions were above expectations.
“From the limited access we were given we were able to confirm that conditions for the prisoners were better than reported,” McCarthy stated.
The visitors were shown the camps, the hospital, interrogation rooms, the military court room and evidence locker room.
Requests to meet detainees were denied as this is the exclusive right of the International Red Cross.
Despite international concerns over the prison camp, Guantanamo’s closure is not expected anytime soon.
“The construction of a new security wing for up to 220 inmates speaks for itself,” said Mann.
McCarthy agreed with her fellow MEP. “We had no reason to believe that closure is imminent.”
Guantanamo currently holds 465 detainees, of these, 319 are deemed “too dangerous to release” the delegation learned.
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