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| May 20, 2005 | Friday | Rabi-us-Sani 11, 1426 |
US pledges to respect religious rights of prisoners
WASHINGTON, May 19: The United States has acknowledged that despite Newsweek’s retraction, there may be people in the Islamic world who may not accept the clarification that the Holy Quran was not desecrated at the US prison facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher assured the Muslims that the US government has a “very strong commitment” to respect the religious rights of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
The US government also has “a very strong commitment to looking into any lapses, infractions or violations of that policy and to correct them as well as punish those who might be responsible,” he added. Asked if people in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan believed that there was no desecration of the Holy Quran at Guantanamo, Mr Boucher said: “At this point, the answer is I don’t know.”
He said Newsweek withdrew its story on Monday and he was not in a position to say if people in Pakistan and Afghanistan “have gotten the news or changed their minds (yet). We are certainly trying to make sure they do get the news. But I guess one will see over time what they believe.”
When a reporter suggested that even with that news, people may not believe the clarification, Mr Boucher said: “It’s possible.” Mr Boucher assured the Muslims that there existed a mechanism for dealing with charges like not respecting the Holy Quran, adding that “if these are credible and serious reports, there will be a credible and serious investigation.”
He said the administration was already conducting several different inquiries about Guantanamo prison camp, “even to the point that we’re still looking into these charges that have been retracted and we’ve found nothing to substantiate them, but they want to get to the end of it and make sure it’s not true”.
He said the Pentagon had issued a “very detailed guidance on the handling of the Quran, down to the level of who should touch it” and how. He said that only Muslim scholars and Muslim interpreters are allowed to touch the Holy Quran, not military police or other people dealing with the prisoners.
The guidelines-– enforced in January 2003-– also detail how a person is required to “put on gloves before touching the Holy Quran, how it’s placed, how it’s moved. “(These are) very detailed guidelines that are designed so that everybody there can show the proper respect for the Holy Quran,” he said.
The spokesman said the US government allowed representatives of the Red Cross and foreign governments to visit the camp and meet the prisoners and “if they raise issues, we look into them.”
Mr Boucher said the Pentagon was responsible for running the Guantanamo prison camp, but it was “not fair” to say that the implementation of the US commitment to protecting religious rights of the prisoners was left completely to the Pentagon.
There were many mechanisms to make sure that people follow the procedures that are laid down and respect the religious rights of these prisoners, he added.
The spokesman said detainees at Guantanamo were treated humanely in accordance with the Geneva Conventions; they were given their religious rights, access to the Holy Quran, directions to Makkah and the he call to prayer was heard.
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