CubaMinrex. Sitio del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de Cuba

Guantanamo Jail Symbolizes Injustice, says British Prosecutor

MIAMI, February 13, 2007.- "Guantanamo Bay is unacceptable and should close; it is a symbol of injustice that the long tradition of American justice and liberty ought to see removed at the earliest moment," British Attorney General Lord Goldsmith told the American Bar Association on Monday.

Guantanamo remains a symbol of injustice because prisoners held in the facility in Cuba cannot use United States courts to protest their detention and may be convicted of crimes on the basis of coerced evidence and other means not typically allowed in civilian courts, said Goldsmith.

The attorney general joins the numerous calls from around the world to close down the prison located on illegally occupied Cuban territory where detainees are routinely tortured.

"There remain fundamental problems with this system of detention," Goldsmith told the American Bar Association (ABA) at its meeting in Miami, reported AP.

Goldsmith had called for the closing of Guantanamo last year as well before the Supreme Court rejected a US government plan to use Military Commissions to try the prisoners and Congress sent a law to President Bush in response to the court’s objections.

"I am aware of the changes that have now been made, following the Military Commissions Act signed into law late last year. I welcome some of the changes made […] But I am aware of criticisms that remain: of a law which treats aliens in a different way from American citizens; that still allows coerced evidence to be used in certain cases; that excludes the application of habeas corpus," Goldsmith told the ABA. (Cubaminrex- Granma)

 

 

 

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