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Britain Seeks Assurances Over Treatment of British Al-Qaida Suspects

LONDON (AP) - British nationals among the Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners held at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba must be treated according to international law, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tuesday.

British officials say three Britons are among the 50 prisoners flown from Afghanistan to a high-security prison at the Guantanamo Bay base in Cuba.

Straw said he spoke with Secretary of State Colin Powell on Saturday about the treatment of the British detainees.

"These people ... are accused of having been members of the most dangerous terrorist organization which the world has ever seen," Straw told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.

"That does not mean for a second that they do not have rights and where they are British citizens it is our responsibility to ensure that they receive those rights.

British diplomats have been granted permission to visit the first Briton, who arrived at the base Friday with 19 other al-Qaida and Taliban suspects. A Foreign Office spokeswoman said she did not know when the visit would take place. Consular staff based in the United States will visit the prisoners, because Havana-based diplomats are prevented from doing so by U.S. sanctions against Cuba, she said.

Two more men claiming to be British were among 30 transported to the base Monday, shackled and hooded. The Foreign Office said it was still trying to confirm their identities.

Human rights groups and some British politicians have expressed concerns about the detainees' treatment and status. U.S. authorities have not classified them as prisoners of war, which would give them rights under the Geneva Convention.

"Whether or not technically they have rights under the Geneva Convention, they have rights in customary international law, and all of us who are either involved as their representatives as their governments or those holding them have obligations," Straw said.

He said Powell told him that "the United States also accepts its obligations here."

"We want to find out exactly what conditions are," Straw added. "Of course if we regard the conditions as unsatisfactory we will say so."

-- Anonymous, January 15, 2002