Madam, - It is shocking to think that 600 prisoners are still being detained illegally at Guantanamo Bay and that the world has all but forgotten them.
These detainees have been deprived of all their basic rights. They have had no access to legal representation, they have not yet been charged, they have no contact with their families and have been left to the mercy of the US military.
The US government says the 600 men it has exiled to Guantanamo Bay for interrogation are neither traditional prisoners of war (POWs) nor criminals. If they were recognised as POWS, then the Third Geneva Convention, which outlines the rights and protections entitled to prisoners of war, would apply.
On the other hand, if they were recognised as criminals, they would be entitled to the standard due-process rights granted to ordinary citizens in the United States. Such rights include the right to a fair and speedy trial by an impartial jury, the right of representation by an attorney, and the right to be told of the crime of which one is being charged.
However, the US government decided to take the law into its own hands and chose a cowardly approach.
Instead of treating these men as human beings with rights to legal representation and a fair trial, the US chose to detain them in a limbo zone where legislation is vague and where they are without all normal human rights granted to prisoners or criminals. The right to a fair and public trial by an independent tribunal is granted to every human being under Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent international human rights conventions. However, none of the foreign nationals in US custody in Guantanamo have been granted access to legal representation.
The Irish people and Government should demand: (a) that the legal status of these prisoners be clarified immediately and they be given either the full status of POWs or put on trial; and (b) that those who are not being recognised as prisoners of war should either be charged with a crime and tried in a fair and public trial, or released immediately.
The US government speaks of freedom, citizen's rights and security. The manner in which these men are been detained arbitrarily in Guantanamo Bay demonstrates the hypocrisy of the US government and its failure to put its freedom and human rights mantra into practice. - Yours, etc.,
RICHARD COFFEY, Castlefarm, Shankill, Co Dublin.