JURIST - Paper Chase: UN investigators decline Gitmo invitation unless detainees can be interviewed

[JURIST] Three UN human rights experts who were invited [JURIST report] last Friday by the Pentagon to examine conditions at Guantanamo Bay prison [JURIST news archive] said [UN press release] Monday that they will refuse the invitation unless they are allowed to interview detainees. The Pentagon said Friday that the experts would not be speaking with the 505 detainees because such interviews were the responsibility of the International Committee of the Red Cross [official website]. The experts are part of a Special Procedures group overseen by the UN Commission on Human Rights [official website], and have been requesting access [UN press release] to Gitmo since 2002. The experts are also concerned that a one-day visit as offered by the Pentagon would not be enough to fully examine the prison. Human rights watchdogs have been increasingly concerned [JURIST report] with the situation at Gitmo since reports surfaced this fall that hunger-striking detainees were being forcibly fed by US personnel. Reuters has more.

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