LONDON, Jan 17: London wants Washington to hand over British Al Qaeda suspects, being held in Cuba, for trial here to avoid a confrontation over US use of the death penalty, The Financial Times said on Thursday.
The British government is also concerned that Washington may be alienating public opinion through its tough approach to the prisoners held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, the paper reported.
In public, however, Prime Minister Tony Blair has supported the United States, insisting that the detainees were being treated humanely.
At least 20 Britons suspected of fighting with the Al Qaeda network or the Taliban are being held in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and some will probably join the three Britons already imprisoned in Cuba, the Guardian reported.
International human rights groups and a number of British politicians have voiced concern over the way the prisoners are being held in Cuba in small cells with chain-link fencing for walls, concrete floors and wooden roofs.
Fifty prisoners — termed “illegal combatants” by the United States — have so far been transferred from Afghanistan to the Guantanamo camp.
The US says that the detainees are illegal combatants, not prisoners of war, and thus do not have rights under the Geneva Conventions, which set out the laws of war.
A senior British official interviewed by the FT expressed dismay at the blunt language used by US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who said on Tuesday he did not feel “even the slightest concern” at the prisoners’ treatment.
Kevin McNamara, a senior member of parliament for Britain’s ruling Labour Party, said the West “is in danger of losing the high moral ground because of the treatment and possible mode of trial of those prisoners”.
The FT added that the British government was keen that the US should secure detailed information from the prisoners to try to prevent further terrorist atrocities.
British intelligence agencies believe more could be learnt about the network’s support here.
Blair told parliament on Wednesday: “The Americans assure us that these people are indeed being humanely treated.”
HE ADDED: “Anybody who is captured by the American troops or the British troops or by anyone else should be treated humanely, in accordance with the Geneva convention and proper international laws.
“There should be no doubt about two things: first of all, we’re dealing with very dangerous people; secondly however we are civilized people and we will treat prisoners in a proper and humane way.”
Blair added that the prisoners were being properly fed, exercised, showered and offered medical treatment.
He added that a British team would also be heading to the Cuba naval base, without providing a date.—AFP