One of Britain's most senior judges has condemned the United States for its "monstrous failure of justice" in holding prisoners at the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
In a speech seen by Channel 4 news, Law Lord Johan Steyn said that the prisoners are being held illegally.
"The purpose of holding the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay was and is to put them beyond the rule of law, beyond the protection of any courts, and at the mercy of victors," Steyn said.
Nine British citizens are held at Guantanamo, among 660 detainees held without charge as "enemy combatants" at the naval base. Their treatment has appalled human rights groups who believe the prisoners will be deprived of a fair trial.
"The procedural rules do not prohibit the use of force to coerce prisoners to confess," Steyn's said in his speech.
"The blanket presidential order deprives them all of any rights whatsoever. As a lawyer brought up to admire the ideals of American democracy and justice, I would have to say that I regard this as a monstrous failure of justice."
The prison was set up in January 2002 to hold combatants captured in Afghanistan and also houses others suspected of association with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network, accused by Washington of carrying out the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and a host of other bombings.
The detainees have no access to lawyers or to family members, and their long incarceration in legal limbo has outraged many.
A US federal judge has ruled that foreign detainees are not entitled to appeal in US courts against their detention without trial or charges because the base is not US territory, although the US Supreme Court is to hear an appeal on this.