London – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked the United States on Tuesday to free five British residents from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – a policy reversal welcomed by the Bush administration.
The United States has been working to reduce the detainee population at Guantanamo with an eye toward closing the controversial detention center.
In some cases in which detainees are likely to be mistreated in their native countries, the Bush administration has been appealing to nations with respected human rights records to take those it does not intend to try in U.S. military courts.
U.S. officials said Tuesday that Brown’s decision to ask for the transfer of non-British nationals was a positive step.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the British request was already being reviewed and encouraged Britain and other nations to accept more detainees.
“This request is for five,” he told reporters. “If there is a desire for the U.K. government to look at more than five, of course we would entertain that, just as we would with any other country making a request.”
Proponents of closing Guantanamo Bay offered similar sentiments.
“The U.K.’s decision to accept its legal residents is an important step forward,” New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a statement. “At the same time, Human Rights Watch continues to urge the U.K. and other EU (European Union) member states to help resettle other detainees who may not have a legal claim to residency, but who cannot return to their home countries.”
Since 2002, the U.S. has transferred about 400 detainees from Guantanamo to more than two dozen countries. In some cases, however, the U.S. has not been able to transfer the prisoners to their home countries because it hasn’t been able to secure the assurances required by American law that they would not be mistreated. The State Department has struggled to find third countries willing to accept Guantanamo prisoners and able to provide the legally required assurances.
Brown’s request contrasts with Tony Blair’s refusal for years to intervene in many Guantanamo cases.
Brown has been trying to distance himself from Blair – particularly in regard to Iraq.
Blair’s government chose only to secure the release of nine British citizens and one resident who had provided help to British intelligence services. It refused to intervene in the plight of other British residents, saying as recently as March that it could not help people who were not citizens.
“We don’t want to be the world’s jailers,” McCormack said. “At the same time, we also don’t want to see very dangerous people allowed to walk the streets freely so they can pose a threat to our citizens as well as others.”
