WASHINGTON, July 11/2006.— The Bush administration admitted on Tuesday that its prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have the right to be protected under the Geneva Convention, something it had refused to acknowledge during the last 5 years. White House spokesperson Tony Snow announced the government’s decision to accept the Supreme Court ruling on the status of the prisoners at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo, reported Prensa Latina. The Pentagon is currently holding some 450 prisoners from 30 countries at the offshore prison camp located on illegally occupied Cuban territory. The detainees, labeled "enemy combatants" but without charges, have been held without the right to a fair trial or proper legal representation. On June 29 the Supreme Court ruled that special military tribunals, created to try the prisoners at the Guantanamo base, violated US law. The ruling states that such tribunals not only violate US military law but also the four Geneva Conventions that regulate the treatment of prisoners of war. Nevertheless, Snow said the prisoners will remain at the Guantanamo detention center despite the legal rulings.
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