UK/Cuba: Ten of 60 children still held in Guantanamo
01 March 2006
Of the estimated 60 children who have been detained in defiance of international law, without trial or access to legal representation at the US torture centre at Guantanamo Bay, at least 10 are still being detained there according to the Clive Stafford Smith, a legal director of the London based human rights organisation, Reprieve and a lawyer who represents a number of detainees. Some of the children seized by the US were only 14 or 15 years of age at the time, and have been held in solitary confinement, where they were subjected to repeated interrogations that is alleged to have involved the use of torture. According to the Independent newspaper "Whitehall" sources have said that the allegations "contradict" what they have been told by the Bush administration; "We would take a very dim view if it transpires that there were actually minors in there" a spokesman told the newspaper. The US admits to holding three child detainees at their special facility, called Camp Iguana.
One of those detained is Canadian born Omar Khadr who was 15-years old when he was arrested in Afghanistan in 2002, and accused of killing a US soldier. The US refused to acknowledge his juvenile status and he has been kept in solitary confinement and faces a so-called "military tribunal" rather than being tried before a court of law. The human rights organisation, Human Rights Watch, has said that the Pentagon violated international criminal justice standards by refusing to separate him from adult detainees, failing to provide him with opportunities for education or to allow him with direct contact with his family while in detention.
Mohamed al-Gharani is accused of al-Qaeda membership and involvement in a plot to bomb London in 1998, when he was 12 years old. He was living with his parents in Saudi Arabia at the time of the attack and was arrested in Karachi in 2001, aged 14. He also has spent several years in solitary confinement.
Stafford Smith said that the US actions "broke every widely accepted legal convention on human rights...including US law". He added: "There is nothing wrong with trying minors for crimes, if they have committed crimes. The problem is when you either hold minors without trial or in shocking conditions, or try them before a military commission that, in the words of a prosecutor who refused to take part, is rigged". He continued: "Even if these kids were involved in fighting - and Omar is the only one who the military pretends was - then there is a UN convention against the use of child soldiers. There is a general recognition in the civilised world that children should be treated differently from adults."
The children's section of the Human Rights Watch organisation have pointed out that international standards recognise that children under the age of 18 are a vulnerable group and entitled to special care and protection because they are still developing physically and mentally. The use of detention should be a last resort and prompt determination of their cases should be a priority. Trials of young offenders should take place before authorities trained in juvenile justice standards and they should protect the best interests of the child and consider a wide range of sentencing options that will prepare the child to reenter society.
For more information on the Guantanamo Bay detainees see the excellent Cage Prisoners website: http://www.cageprisoners.com/
Independent 28.5.06; Human Rights Watch: http://hrw.org/