Guantánamo tribunals spur Red Cross to voice concern

Guantánamo tribunals spur Red Cross to voice concern
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington and Daniel Dombey in,Brussels
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
Published: October 20 2006 03:00 | Last updated: October 20 2006 03:00



The International Committee of the Red Cross raised concerns yesterday about recent US legislation that creates military commissions to try prisoners at Guantánamo Bay and redefines American obligations under the Geneva conventions.

President George W. Bush signed the Military Commissions Act earlier this week. Among other controversial provisions it allows the admission of evidence gained through coercion. It also allows the Central Intelligence Agency to keep interrogating detainees at secret prisons around the world and prevents detainees at Guantánamo from challenging their detention in US courts.

Jakob Kellenberger, the ICRC president, said the legislation "raises certain concerns and questions".

"The very broad definition of who is an 'unlawful enemy combatant' and the fact that there is not an explicit prohibition of the admission of evidence attained by coercion are examples," he said, in comments posted on the

The administration hammered out agreement on the law with key Republican senators after the Supreme Court ruled this year that the previous military commissions created to try prisoners at Guantánamo violated US law and the Geneva conventions.

Republicans, and a few Democrats, have argued that the law will help the US prosecute the "war on terror" but the American Civil Liberties Union called it one of the "worst civil liberties measures ever enacted".

Mr Kellenberger said the legislation was also problematic because it had created "two tiers of prohibitions" out of those listed under common article three of the Geneva conventions.

"[The law] omits certain violations from the list of acts that are war crimes under US domestic law. These included the prohibition of outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, and the prohibition of the denial of the right to a fair trial . . . This distinction between the different violations disrupts the integrity of common article three."

Mr Kellenberger raised concerns about the use of secret detentions, which he said were "contrary to a range of safeguards provided for under the relevant international standards".

European politicians have responded angrily to Mr Bush's admission that the CIA has operated secret prisons - and have been vexed by his refusal to rule out their use in future.

Last month Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said the practice was "not compatible with my understanding of the rule of law". However, European legislators have been unable to determine whet-her European states have housed such facilities.