| Author (Person) | Banks, Martin |
|---|---|
| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.9, No.32, 2.10.03, p16 |
| Publication Date | 02/10/2003 |
| Content Type | News |
|
Date: 02/10/03 By Martin Banks THE European Union has been too “wimpish” in tackling the United States about the detention without trial of 13 EU citizens at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a public hearing at the European Parliament was told on Tuesday. Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said the detainees, who come from Sweden, Britain, Spain, France and Germany, should be freed or assured they will receive a civil trial. The 13 men held at America's Camp Delta base are among more than 600 terror suspects captured during the war in Afghanistan. None have been charged. After the detention centre opened in January 2002, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld called its inmates “among the most dangerous, best trained, vicious killers on the face of the earth”. But many are now thought to be low-level fighters. Ludford urged “a united diplomatic protest” by the EU to President Bush. “If the EU stopped being wimpish and spoke with one voice we could surely have real weight to reverse the third-class justice meted out there,” she added. A public hearing at the European Parliament was told on 30 September 2003 by MEP Sarah Ludford that 13 European Union citizens held at America's Camp Delta in Cuba should be freed or assured they will receive a fair trial. |
|
| Subject Categories | Justice and Home Affairs, Security and Defence, Values and Beliefs |
