GUANTANAMO BAY

Early day motion 1035, tabled 8 April 2003 by Kevin McNamara (Labour). Signed by 78 members.

That this House notes that more than a year after the cessation of international armed conflict in Afghanistan, more than 600 persons seized in the course of the conflict are still detained at the United States facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; further notes that persons subsequently arrested in other jurisdictions are being sent to Guantanamo Bay and detained without trial; expresses its concern at the means by which individuals were transported far away from their families and at the conditions of their detention; notes the refusal of the United States to permit a determination to be made on the status of individual prisoners by a competent tribunal, describing them instead as unlawful combatants, a status not contemplated in international law; is forced to conclude that the detention of such persons is arbitary and therefore unlawful; and urges the United States authorities to facilitate the release of all prisoners and return by agreement to their country of origin unless they are wanted for war crimes or terrorist offences in which case they should be given their legal rights and charged.

Signatures by party: Labour 50, Liberal Democrat 19, Conservative 3, Labour/Co-operative 3, Plaid Cymru 2, Social Democratic and Labour Party 1.