Cabinet minister calls for closure of Guantanamo(first cabinet minister)

PETER HAIN became the first Cabinet minister explicitly to call for the closure of Guantanamo Bay last night. Hours earlier three Britons detained at the US prison on Cuba were given the go-ahead by the High Court to begin legal moves to seek their freedom. Under the ruling the three detainees, Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil el-Banna, Omar Deghayes and members of their families living in Britain, can seek a court order requiring Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, to press the Americans for their release. The case could be heard as early as next week after yesterday’s ruling by Mr Justice Collins.

During the hearing the judge remarked that the United States’ idea of what constitutes torture “is not the same as ours and doesn’t appear to coincide with that of most civilised countries”. He added that he had heard on BBC Radio’s Today programme about a UN committee report recommending that the Guantanamo detention facility should be closed because torture was still taking place there.

The report, which was ordered by the UN Commission on Human Rights, called on the US Government to refrain from any practice “amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” at Guantanamo. It said that all detainees should be brought to trial or released “without further delay” and the facility closed. Mr Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said on Question Time, on BBC1 last night that he would prefer that the camp were closed down.
When asked if this was government policy he said: “That’s what I think.” Asked if the Prime Mininster agreed, he replied: “I think so, yes. We’ve always said that Guantanamo Bay was something that shouldn’t have happened.”


William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, used a speech in the United States yesterday to say that the country’s loss of international goodwill through the existence of Guantanamo and pictures of Iraqi detainees being abused, could eventually prove as costly as the “sharpest of military defeats”.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2045312,00.html

British Cabinet minister says he wants to see Guantanamo prison camp closed
(AP)

17 February 2006

LONDON - A British Cabinet member has urged the United States to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, and said he believed Prime Minister Tony Blair shared that view.

“I would prefer that it wasn’t there. I would prefer it was closed,” Peter Hain, the minister responsible for Wales and Northern Ireland, said Thursday night on a televised discussion program.

Mike Gapes, chairman of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, said Friday that he welcomed the statement. “It is not in America’s own interests to maintain this place,” said Gapes, a member of Blair’s Labour Party.
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http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/February/theworld_February483.xml§ion=theworld

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Last Updated: Friday, 17 February 2006, 08:49 GMT
Close Guantanamo camp, Hain says

Mr Hain's comments follow a critical UN report on the camp.

Cabinet minister Peter Hain has said he thinks the US-run detention camp at Guantanamo Bay should be shut down.
A UN report has said aspects of the regime at the camp amounted to torture.

Mr Hain told BBC One's Question Time: "I would prefer that it wasn't there and I would prefer it was closed."

Mr Hain said he thought Tony Blair agreed with him. Tory William Hague said reports of abuse damaged the US and UK alliance's "moral authority".

'Formidable arguments'

Meanwhile, three British residents held at Guantanamo Bay have won permission to seek a High Court order requiring the UK to petition for their release.

Accounts, accurate or not, of the mistreatment of detainees at Guantanamo and extraordinary rendition flights leading to the torture of suspects, have led to a critical erosion in our moral authority

A judge said claims of torture at the camp meant the government might have an obligation to act on their behalf.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4722408.stm

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Close Guantanamo, says Peter Hain
By Andrew Woodcock, PA
Published: 17 February 2006
Pressure to close the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay grew today after Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain backed its shutdown.

His comments came after a United Nations report - backed by the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan - called for the immediate closure of the controversial site in Cuba.

Mr Hain was believed to be the first Government minister explicitly to demand the closure.

He also said he believed that Prime Minister Tony Blair shared his view.

Mr Hain said on BBC1's Question Time: "I would prefer that it wasn't there. I would prefer it was closed, yes."

Asked if it was Government policy that Guantanamo should be shut down, he replied: "That's what I think."

And challenged on whether Mr Blair agreed with him, he said: "I think so, yes."
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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article346014.ece