POLITICIANS MUST WORK HARDER TO END ILLEGAL GUANTÁNAMO - LIZ LYNNE

11.28.00pm GMT Wed 28th Nov 2007

A new initiative by the human rights organisation Amnesty International aimed at shaming US politicians into acting on the illegal detention centre at Guantánamo Bay is gathering support amongst UK lawmakers.

West Midlands MEP Liz Lynne has become the first EU-level politician to sign the 'Framework for Ending Illegal Detentions in the Fight Against Terrorism and hopes that many more of her EU colleagues will follow suit.

Speaking today from Brussels, Liz, who is a Member of the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights and has long campaigned for the closure of the detention centre said:

"I warmly welcome this declaration and hope it will gather enough politicians' signatures to really make an impact when it is delivered to the US congress and US presidential candidates on the 16th of December.

"Interest in the UK has waned somewhat since the British detainees were released, but we must take this opportunity to say to the US government that it must close Guantánamo Bay immediately, and either bring the remaining detainees to trial, or release them without further delay.

"Contrary to what many think, Guantánamo Bay is not a legal black hole: it is under US control, and therefore the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the UN Torture Convention both apply. The US is obliged under international law to respect fundamental rights and observe due legal process.

"Guantánamo Bay, ghost detention and torture represent an open sore on the human rights record of the US and a blatant act of defiance of the rule of law."