Al Qaida prisoners being held at an American naval base are so feared their toothbrushes have the handles removed so they cannot be used as weapons, it was disclosed today.
The 80 suspected terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay do not know exactly where they are, have a bucket for a toilet, sleep on a thin foam mat and will spend at least the next three months in cages exposed to the elements.
But the general in charge of their detention said he was being "guided by the Geneva convention" and had told them which way to face Mecca to pray.
Brigadier General Michael Lehnert is responsible for the 900 troops and military police at Camp X-Ray, a special enclosure on the remote Cuban base where the men, three of them British, are being imprisoned.
British consular officials are still to get access to the men and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross were due to arrive late tonight for an inspection, but a group of hand-picked American journalists was taken on a tour of the prison today.
Today Brig Gen Lehnert defended the treatment of the men, and told the New York Times: "We are being guided by the Geneva Convention. They spend their days meditating, praying, eating. They're not watching TV. There's not a lot of activity."
The commander said the men, all in their 20s and 30s, alternate between reading the handful of copies of the Koran available and yelling threats at their guards.
"We have an international community of suspected terrorists from all over the world. These are not nice people. Several have publicly stated here their intent to kill an American before they leave Guantanamo Bay.
"We will not give them that satisfaction."
The men sleep on thin foam mattresses in chain-link fence cages which have only a metal roof to protect them from the elements.
Amnesty International has warned the American government it may be breaking the Geneva Convention's rules which state prisoners of war should be protected from rain and adequately heated.
But the commander said soldiers are also expected to sleep on the mats, called Isomats, in the battlefield, and were not sleeping in much better conditions.
"After the last rain we had, I went out there and checked, and they were all doing well," he said. "Our security forces are living in the same kind of environment that they are."
The prisoners are given food prepared in line with the Muslim Halal food regulations, with a cold breakfast of bagels and cream cheese and a hot lunch and dinner.
The food includes beans and rice, fruit, stew, raisins and American favourites such as Fruit Loops, a breakfast cereal, and muesli bars.
But when they are finished, the plastic spoons given to them are taken away in case they are converted to weapons, and their cages are floodlit round the clock.
None of the men, whose numbers include an Australian, have been interrogated, and all have had their heads and beards shaved to prevent the spread of lice, and given clean orange jump suits.
During the tour of the base, another 30 prisoners arrived and were led off the C-141 transport plane, shackled hand and foot, wearing dark goggles and surgical masks, to prevent the spread of diseases some are believed to carry, including tuberculosis.
A guard of 60 Marines, some in riot gear and others huddled behind the machine guns mounted on their jeeps, met them and watched as they were taken by ferry across shark-infested waters to the camp.
Preparations are now under way for 120 more prisoners to arrive from Afghanistan in the next few days. Eventually the camp will have a capacity of 2,000, when more permanent buildings are completed in an estimated three months time.
PA