Cuban terror camp expanding
2003-08-25 09:42
San Juan, Puerto Rico - In another sign that the United States detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is set for the long haul, the military announced on Sunday it was building a fifth camp to hold more detainees and expand interrogation facilities.
Camp V will make room for 100 more detainees, increasing the capacity at the remote naval base in eastern Cuba to 1 100, said Lieutenant-Colonel Pamela Hart.
Since it first opened in January 2002, the detention centre has grown from open-air, chain-link cells that some likened to animal cages to trailer-style quarters where detainees have a metal bed, a sink and flush toilets.
It holds about 660 men from 42 countries detained for alleged links to the al-Qaeda terror network or the ousted Afghanistan Taliban regime that sheltered it.
They include three teenagers aged 13-15 whom the military says it probably will recommend for release soon.
Hart, a spokesperson for the detention centre, said the new camp also would have more interrogation rooms.
Asked about the growing permanence of the camp, Hart said "We will be here as long as the war on terrorism continues."
More exercise, books and other liberties
The Miami Herald broke the news on Sunday of the construction of the new camp in an interview with the chief of the detention centre, Major-General Geoffrey Miller.
Hart said that in addition to increasing capacity for more detainees, new interrogation facilities would be installed to replace trailers that were used on Camp Delta's perimeter.
Construction began recently and was expected to be finished sometime next year, officials said.
Several months ago, the military rewarded about 120 prisoners deemed to have provided good intelligence with a move to a new medium-security wing where they got more exercise, books and other liberties.
Meanwhile, preparations continue for possible military tribunals, with a courthouse and permanent detention centre for any convicts.
The tribunals also have power to impose the death sentence, but officials say they have not built an execution chamber, although they have plans for every eventuality.
Human rights groups and countries of detained nationals have criticised the United States for refusing to designate the detainees as prisoners of war under international conventions.
Miller said the prisoners were treated humanely and in line with the conventions except that they were denied access to lawyers, denied access to US courts and were being held indefinitely without charges.
About 65 prisoners have been released or transferred since the mission began.
- AP