U.N. Experts - Reliable Accounts of Torture at Guantanamo

Common Dreams News is reporting that UN human rights experts said Thursday they have reliable accounts of detainees being tortured at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The UN experts always release their findings, unlike the International committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), who keep their findings confidential reporting only to the country being investigated, and is just the way King George likes it. The experts also said Washington had not responded to their latest request to check on the conditions of terror suspects at the facility in eastern Cuba. That request was made in April. The experts, who report to U.N. bodies on different human rights issues, said their request for a visit was "based on information, from reliable sources, of serious allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, arbitrary detention, violations of their right to health and their due process rights "Many of these allegations have come to light through declassified (U.S.) government documents," they said. Manfred Nowak, the U.N. special investigator on torture, said "We deeply regret that the government of the United States has still not invited us to visit those persons arrested, detained or tried on grounds of alleged terrorism or other violations". If this administration has nothing to hide, and the prisoners are being treated just fine as they tried to drum into everyone's head on the TV talk shows last weekend, why has the UN still not been allowed access? The UN human rights investigators have been trying to visit since 2002. This sure doesn't look like a cooperative and open attitude from King George and his lapdogs as they would have us believe. MORE....