[Donut]

I often wonder what will be done with the 680 odd prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. Supposedly most can't be returned to their countries as they would likely rejoin Al Qaeda. The can't be moved to mainland prisons because I would imagine they would then be given protected under US laws on human rights etc. They can't be held in Camp X-Ray for ever because of the costs involved. So what is to be done with them?

This is an ominous development:


Camp X-Ray plans chamber of death
By Joe Murphy, Whitehall Editor, Evening Standard
11 June 2003

Britain is making urgent appeals to the United States after it emerged that a death chamber is being planned at Guantanamo Bay.

American military officials confirmed they have drawn up blueprints for an execution room at the "Camp X-Ray" Cuban military base where eight Britons are among hundreds of suspected Muslim terrorist prisoners.

MPs warned of an international outcry if any of the captives were executed without a proper trial and right of appeal.

A Foreign Office minister confirmed there was "a fundamental disagreement" with the US over the use of the death penalty for prisoners-of-war. Mike O'Brien told MPs: "Our overriding objective is to avoid the execution of any British nationals.

"We will express our opposition to the death penalty and its use on a British national at whatever stage and level appropriate, from the moment when the imposition of the death penalty on a British national becomes a possibility."

US Navy officials are renovating a building to serve as a courtroom for military-style trials of suspected al Qaeda prisoners. They confirmed they have also discussed building a death chamber nearby, although construction is awaiting orders from President George Bush.

A total of 680 prisoners - described as "unlawful combatants" by the US - are held, mainly from Afghanistan. Shortly after the September 11 terror attacks in New York, Mr Bush gave the go-ahead for the first military commission trials by a western power since the aftermath of the Second World War.

A Downing Street spokesman said the Government had made clear to the US that Britons should be spared the death penalty. "The UK position on the death penalty is widely known and clearly understood," he said.

Labour MP Graham Allen, a leading critic of the war in Iraq, said any executions would cause a worldwide outcry. "It will be another huge propaganda coup for al Qaeda," he said. "President Bush must make clear immediately that the rule of law will prevail, not a kangaroo court."

Major John Smith, of the US Air Force, an attorney and spokesman for the military commissions, said the outcry was "premature". He insisted: "No decision has been made as to where an execution would take place, if appropriate."

But Lesley Warner, London-based media director of Amnesty International, said the rights of detainees had already been flouted. "Many have been there for over a year without charge or trial. We are very concerned about the building of a death chamber."

A death sentence would require a unanimous decision by a seven-member commission, and would have to be upheld by a review panel of three military officers, one of whom must have a background as a judge.

That panel would make a recommendation to US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld who would send his own recommendation to President Bush, who could grant a reprieve.

[ 06-12-2003, 12:00 PM: Message edited by: Donut ]