Madam, - The BBC Panorama programme on conditions at Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba was quite terrifying. It is simply beyond belief that human beings can be treated in such an appalling fashion and the governments of the world just stand by with scarcely a word of protest.
What has the Irish Government to say about the matter? Prisoners are shackled and the light is left on in their cells for 24 hours a day. They are denied proper legal counsel and are not permitted to see their families. According to Panorama there have been 32 suicide attempts by the inmates.
Robert Fries of Amnesty International has described the detentions as "nothing short of a human rights scandal." Mr Azmat Begg, the Birmingham-based father of one of the captives, told how his son Moazzem, had said in a letter "I am like an animal in a cage. My life is a hell and I'm in a state of depression." Mr Begg has said that his son should be brought to the UK because he is a British citizen. "If he has done something wrong, he should be punished, if not, let him go", he said.
It seems that the US can simply kidnap people from different jurisdictions and take them to the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay. Once there, they cannot be reached by anyone. Justice Richard Goldstone, the former UN Prosecutor at the UN War Crimes Tribunal, has condemned this. The British Labour MP Kevin McNamara, who was appointed rapporteur for the Council of Europe on Guantanamo Bay, claimed that these detentions are unlawful. Strong condemnation has also come from the International Red Cross. What is taking place at Guantanamo Bay is an outrage against all human decency and morality. It is a crime against humanity. It would seem that the United States has set itself above international law and is quite willing to behave in an inhuman and unlawful manner in pursuit of its own interests. The very least one would expect is that our Government would condemn this evil practice in the strongest terms.
I note that the Pope's envoy, Cardinal Pio Laghi, who was sent to appeal to President Bush not to go to war against Iraq, has made a statement to the effect that Bush wasn't prepared to listen. He had already made up his mind to have a war, the cardinal said. As to the weapons of mass destruction which could be used against the US within 45 minutes, well, where are they? Was it all a tissue of lies? Bush and Blair have a lot to answer for. - Yours, etc.,
ANTHONY REDMOND,
North Great George's Street,
Dublin 1