|
US Given Ultimatum on Guantanamo Inspection
 The United Nations on Tuesday, November 15, gave the United States Thursday as an ultimatum to respond to a request for human rights inspectors' free access to the X-Ray detention camp in Cuba. "The United States has until Thursday (November 17) to confirm it will allow United Nations inspectors open access to detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba," the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred Nowak, told Agence France Presse (AFP).Earlier, the UN team welcomed a US invitation to inspect the infamous prison, but asked for free access and personal interviews with the detainees. "We cannot accept the exclusion of private interviews with detainees as this would not only contravene the Terms of Reference for Fact-finding missions by Special Procedures but also undermine the purpose of an objective and fair assessment of the situation of detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay," the UN investigators told the US administration in a joint statement. Nowak said the absence of a conclusive answer by midnight on Thursday will be taken as a refusal. "The situation is very clear: if the United States does not accept our conditions, we will not go," Nowak warned. Posted by: Fred 2005-11-16 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=135130 |