EU: The European Parliament urged the United States yesterday to close the Guantánamo Bay detention centre and give a fair trial to all prisoners.
EU member states are not obliged to back the symbolic call, which adds to mounting international pressure on Washington to close the camp.
United Nations investigators said detainees there faced treatment amounting to torture. In its resolution, the European Parliament said: "Every prisoner should be treated in accordance with international humanitarian law and tried without delay in a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent, impartial tribunal."
The resolution was adopted by 80 votes in favour, one against and one abstention. "When exactly will this nightmare end?" asked Graham Watson, leader of the liberal group in parliament.
Meanwhile a leading British judge yesterday permitted three British residents being held at Guantánamo to take legal action in order to force the government to facilitate their release.
Judge Andrew Collins told the High Court in London the US's idea of what constituted torture was "not the same as ours and doesn't appear to coincide with that of most civilised countries". - (Reuters)