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British FM Calls For Closure of 'Unacceptable' US Guantanamo Detention Camp

Agence France Presse
October 12, 2006
 
LONDON, Oct 12, 2006 (AFP)
 
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Thursday the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay was "unacceptable in terms of human rights," was ineffective in the war on terrorism and should close.
 
"As the prime minister (Tony Blair) has said, we believe that camp should close," Beckett said as she launched the Foreign Office's ninth annual report on human rights.
 
"The continuing detention without fair trial of prisoners is unacceptable in terms of human rights, but it is also ineffective in terms of counter-terrorism," Beckett said.
 
"It is widely argued now that the existence of the camp is as much a radicalising and destabilising influence as it is a safeguard to security," she said.
 
In March, Blair told parliament that "I hope the judicial process can be put in place which means that Guantanamo Bay can close -- as I think it should for the reasons I have given."
 
He said the US naval base in Cuba is an "anomaly and that's why it has to end."

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