Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-02-07-Speech-4-176"
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"en.20020207.10.4-176"2
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"Madam President, Parliament must deplore in no uncertain terms President Bush's military order permitting the secret trial of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay by a military commission, which may adopt its own rules of evidence, judge and pass sentence. This is outside American jurisdiction. As has been pointed out by other speakers, the only American al-Qa'ida member so far captured is to be tried in a court in Virginia with full legal representation!
This military order breaches all provisions for a fair trial as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the US is a party, such as the presumption of innocence, choice of counsel, impartial and timely hearing, and the right of appeal to a higher court. The US Government has introduced a category of unlawful combatants, an unknown term in international law, while refusing to grant the suspected al-Qa'ida fighters and Taliban troops captured in Afghanistan the status of prisoners of war.
These concerns have been highlighted by renowned lawyers throughout the world, who contest the legitimacy of forcibly taking those now detained in Cuba out of Afghanistan without any extradition order, as well as their status as combatants, and calls for them to be treated as ordinary criminal suspects with all associated rights.
We must also take into account the fact that some of these people, who are merely suspected of being al-Qa'ida supporters, have been deported from Bosnia to Guantanamo Bay. The reports of ill-treatment of prisoners is absolutely shocking. Nobody can deny what we have seen for ourselves on television, including reports that they have been shackled, hooded, sedated during transfer and their beards forcibly shaved. This sensory deprivation is something that was criticised in Ireland in the past in relation to prisoners in Northern Ireland – even by our own government. Yet everyone is turning a blind eye to what is happening in Guantanamo Bay. We have to speak out in the interests of international justice, respect for human rights and respect for the Rule of Law. America should abide by those international covenants as well. Parliament would do very well to speak out and send a very clear message that we do not agree with the policy they have adopted."@en1
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