Archbishop of Canterbury condemns Guantanamo Bay camp
-05/03/06
The Archbishop of Cante
Archbishop of Canterbury condemns Guantanamo Bay camp
-05/03/06
The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a scathing attack on Guantanamo Bay, branding the US prison camp an “extraordinary legal anomaly” that sets a precedent for dictators around the world.
In an interview for BBC television on Sunday, Rowan Williams said the Guantanamo facility creates a new category of custody.
The archbishop was interviewed for the Heaven and Earth show during a visit to Sudan.
He said the foreigners being held there without charges do not have legal guarantees of individual liberties considered important to the West.
“Any message given, that any state can just override some of the basic habeas corpus-type provisions, is going to be very welcome to tyrants elsewhere in the world, now and in the future,” he said.
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“What, in 10 years’ time, are people going to be able to say about a system that tolerates this?” he asked.
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments follow a blistering attack by the Archbishop of York, who compared George W Bush to the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, and said that the President was perversely applying rules which apply in a war situation, to Guantanamo Bay.
The United States set up the detention centre at its naval base in Cuba after the attacks in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.
Most of those in custody were picked up in Afghanistan as the U.S.-led coalition fought to oust the Taliban regime.
About 750 detainees have been sent to Guantanamo Bay. Nearly 500 remain, but only 10 have been formally charged as terrorists.
Bishops in the UK have been campaigning for a number of years for the rights of British detainees at the camp.
Seven Christians protesting the denial of rights to prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base face jail terms of up to 10 years for their protests against it.
In 2004, the World Council of Churches also focused its attention on US torture at the Base.
Archbishop of Canterbury condemns Guantanamo Bay camp
-05/03/06
The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a scathing attack on Guantanamo Bay, branding the US prison camp an “extraordinary legal anomaly” that sets a precedent for dictators around the world.
In an interview for BBC television on Sunday, Rowan Williams said the Guantanamo facility creates a new category of custody.
The archbishop was interviewed for the Heaven and Earth show during a visit to Sudan.
He said the foreigners being held there without charges do not have legal guarantees of individual liberties considered important to the West.
“Any message given, that any state can just override some of the basic habeas corpus-type provisions, is going to be very welcome to tyrants elsewhere in the world, now and in the future,” he said.
Related Articles
“What, in 10 years’ time, are people going to be able to say about a system that tolerates this?” he asked.
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments follow a blistering attack by the Archbishop of York, who compared George W Bush to the Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, and said that the President was perversely applying rules which apply in a war situation, to Guantanamo Bay.
The United States set up the detention centre at its naval base in Cuba after the attacks in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001.
Most of those in custody were picked up in Afghanistan as the U.S.-led coalition fought to oust the Taliban regime.
About 750 detainees have been sent to Guantanamo Bay. Nearly 500 remain, but only 10 have been formally charged as terrorists.
Bishops in the UK have been campaigning for a number of years for the rights of British detainees at the camp.
Seven Christians protesting the denial of rights to prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base face jail terms of up to 10 years for their protests against it.
In 2004, the World Council of Churches also focused its attention on US torture at the Base.