LONDON, Jan 11: The Amnesty International has urged the United States either to release hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba or try them under the law as their detention without trial was a violation of basic human rights.

The human rights watchdog said this on the first anniversary of the prisoners transfer from Afghanistan to the US Naval Base. Over 600 detainees belonging to about 40 nationalities are being held in Guantanamo.

“This legal limbo is a continuing violation of human rights standards which the international community must not ignore”, AI sources said here on Friday.

It has called for repatriation of all those detained as combatants during the international armed conflict in Afghanistan, as required under the Geneva Conventions, unless they are to be charged with criminal offences or would face serious human rights abuses if returned to their country.

“No access to the courts, lawyers or relatives; the prospect of indefinite detention in small cells for up to 24 hours a day; the possibility of trials by executive military commissions with the power to hand down death sentences and no right of appeal: is this how the USA defends human rights and the rule of law?”, asked the Amnesty.

It reminded US Secretary of State Colin Powell commitment last year that USA would “not relax our commitment to advancing the cause of human rights”.

It has already taken up the case of these detainees with the US authorities and called that they should be treated in accordance with the international law and standards but so far received no response.

“The importance of allowing these detainees to challenge the lawfulness of their detention in a court of law cannot be overstated.

“That is a fundamental human right, and one that protects against arbitrary arrest and detention”, it said.—APP