PARIS, Jan 22: Concern mounted on Tuesday over the condition of suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members held prisoner at the US naval base in Cuba, with America facing new appeals to respect international conventions.

France and Germany urged Washington to ensure the 158 prisoners transferred from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay were treated lawfully, and the European Union insisted their rights be protected.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein accused the Americans of failing to heed their own strictures.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday called allegations of mistreatment “just plain false” and the result of “uninformed, misinformed or poorly informed” media reports.

Washington has come under persistent pressure for classifying the detainees as “illegal combatants” rather than prisoners of war entitled to Geneva Convention rights.

More questions were raised after publication of photographs of a group of kneeling, handcuffed prisoners wearing dark goggles, earmuffs, mittens and bright orange jumpsuits.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said his government was talking to Washington on the need to deal with the detainees as prisoners of war.

“In the fight against international terrorism, we also defend our basic values,” Fischer said in a statement. “They apply whoever the person may be. They protect the life and dignity of men.”

French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero, speaking as a French delegation prepared to travel to Cuba this week, echoed the same theme.

“Whatever their nationality and legal status, we expect these detainees to be given the same guarantees recognized by international law, particularly concerning their conditions of captivity,” he said.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the fact that Washington has linked the prisoners to the Sept 11 attacks in the United States should make no difference.

“Maintaining our values, our principles and our behavior is fundamental for the ultimate battle against fanaticism and terrorism,” Solana said.

Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said the prisoners’ rights should be respected but added he did not think it necessary for the EU to take an official position.

Iraqi newspapers quoted Saddam taking a swipe at the Americans, who have threatened to take their war on terrorism to Baghdad.

“They used human rights and the rights of prisoners for propaganda purposes against other countries,” he said. “But when their turn came to uphold those rights, they openly violated them.”

Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said a Danish national was among the prisoners, and that Copenhagen would seek more information on him from the US authorities and provide him with “all necessary assistance”.

Three Britons, 17 Yemenis and a Swede were previously spotted among the prisoners taken in Afghanistan.

Britain, the staunchest US ally, insisted on Monday concern over the detention of the prisoners was “premature” and said it was satisfied they were being treated properly.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has sent a delegation to Guantanamo and London-based Amnesty International said Tuesday it had asked the Pentagon for permission to do the same.

“We welcome the Red Cross being there but we feel it’s extremely important for there to be access from other human rights groups so these groups can report publicly on their findings,” said Amnesty official Angela Wright.

Amnesty also questioned the impartiality of the British officials who attested to the good treatment accorded the three Britons held in Guantanamo.

“There’s a lot of unknowns about that visit,” said Amnesty research director Claudio Cordone.

“It’s not clear who they were. Were they intelligence officers or diplomats? Were the interviews done with the presence of guards? Were they being questioned? Were they told they were suspected of crimes?”

A US federal judge in Los Angeles was to consider a petition presented by civil rights advocates on behalf of 110 of the detainees, claiming they were being held in violation of the US Constitution and Geneva Convention, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

Washington came under attack on another legal front Tuesday as a senior UN official accused the Bosnian and US governments of acting illegally when Sarajevo handed over six Arab terror suspects to US authorities last week.

“The rule of law was clearly circumvented in this process,” said Madeleine Rees, from the UN human rights agency, adding there was “no legal basis” for their handover.—AFP