A US Defence Department review has found that conditions at the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, meet the humane treatment standards outlined by the Geneva Conventions but noted there is still room for improvement, dpa reported.
Navy Admiral Patrick Walsh told reporters Monday that the prison's operators could do more to improve mental-health conditions by allowing for more recreational time and more interaction among inmates.
"We found that the chain of command endeavors to enhance conditions in a manner as humane as possible, consistent with security concerns," said Walsh, who led the review ordered last month by President Barack Obama on his second day in office.
Obama issued a directive to close the controversial prison camp within a year and to review the cases of the 245 detainees. The review will determine whether to release, prosecute or continue to hold certain detainees.
Guantanamo has been the target of abuse and torture allegations since it opened seven years ago to house prisoners in the war on terrorism. Walsh and his team spent 13 days at Guantanamo, reviewed documents and other records and interviewed staff and about a dozen detainees.
The review did not look into past accusations but focused on current conditions in the prison on the US naval installation on the eastern end of Cuba, Walsh said. He said records indicated 14 cases of substantiated abuse and that the personnel involved were disciplined.
There are seven separate camps in the prison compound for different categories of detainees based on their behaviour. Even though the military had satisfied its obligations under the Geneva standards, more can be done to help the social life of the prisoners, Walsh said.
"In certain camps, further socialization is essential to maintain humane treatment over time," Walsh said. "In our opinion, the key to socialization is providing more human-to-human contact, recreation activities with several detainees together, intellectual stimulation and group prayer."
Walsh's report coincided with Monday's visit to Guantanamo by US Attorney General Eric Holder. Holder was conducting his own review at Guantanamo after assembling a task force to determine the best way to move forward with Obama's order to close the prison.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration released a detainee held at Guantanamo, the first let out since the new president took office on January 20. Binyam Mohamed, a 30-year-old Ethiopian who lived in Britain before his 2002 arrest in Pakistan, arrived Monday in London after the United States turned him over to British authorities. He was questioned and later released.
Mohamed has alleged that he was tortured while in US custody and that British intelligence services were complicit. His case has been the source of public pressure on the British government to reveal intelligence linked to his case. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has refused, saying it would risk the cooperative relationship between US and British intelligence gathering.
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