(AKI) - The Australian government has rejected a US request to resettle inmates from the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Australia.
| That didn't take long ... |
The government said on Friday it was asked by the Bush administration to accept a small number of detainees from the detention facility in Cuba early last year.
Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that the proposal was rejected, and a second request was put to Australia and other US allies last month. Gillard said Australia had been approached along with Britain to accept inmates to help President-elect Barack Obama fulfil an election promise to close the camp. Gillard said the second request was under consideration but the government was unlikely to agree to it.
About 255 men are still held at Guantanamo, including 60 that the United States has approved for release. They cannot be repatriated for fear that they will be tortured or persecuted in their home countries.
According to an Australian media report, the US State Department last week asked around 100 countries to help relocate the camp's detainees.
"Australia, along with a number of other friends and allies of the United States, has been approached to consider resettling detainees from Guantanamo Bay," Gillard said in a statement. "This is a request from the Bush administration, and follows President Bush's statement that he would like to see Guantanamo closed. This is not a request from President Elect Obama." |