UNITED Nations human rights experts yesterday said they had reliable accounts of inmates being tortured at Guantanamo Bay and accused the United States of hindering their attempts to visit detainees at the US naval base in Cuba.

The four independent experts said the US had not responded to numerous requests to check the condition of terrorist suspects at the camp. They said their request for a visit was "based on information, from reliable sources, of serious allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, arbitrary detention, violations of their right to health and their due process rights".

The experts, who report to UN bodies on different human rights issues, have been trying to visit Guantanamo since early 2002. They said they had yet to hear back from Washington on their latest request - made a year ago and renewed in mid-April - to visit the camp. A US spokeswoman said the request was still being reviewed.

"The writ of international human rights does not stop at the gates of Guantanamo Bay," said Paul Hunt, of New Zealand, one of the experts whose role is to monitor physical and mental health.

Manfred Nowak, of Austria, an expert on torture, said: "We are not making a judgment if torture or treatment under degrading conditions has taken place." However, he said the failure of Washington to respond was leading them to conclude the US had something to hide. "At a certain point, you have to take well-founded allegations as proven in the absence of a clear explanation by the government," he said.

The experts' statement said: "We deeply regret that the government of the United States has still not invited us to visit those persons arrested, detained or tried on grounds of alleged terrorism or other violations."

They said many of the abuse allegations had come to light via declassified US government documents.

They had decided to express their misgivings because "the lack of a definitive answer despite repeated requests suggests that the United States is not willing to co-operate with the United Nations human rights machinery on this issue".

Mr Nowak said the team had heard a number of allegations about abuse of US detainees.

But he said US officials at a meeting in April had refused to guarantee him the right to speak to detainees in private - an "absolute precondition" for such a visit. He said his team would need full access to the prison population.

Mr Hunt said he wanted to investigate "persistent and credible reports" of alleged violations. "Reportedly, medical staff have assisted in the design of interrogation strategies, including sleep deprivation and other coercive interrogation methods," he said.

Another of the experts, Leandro Despouy, of Argentina, a specialist on the independence of judges and lawyers, said: "We are all worried about this situation." The fourth member, Leila Zerrougui, of Algeria, a specialist on arbitrary detention, said: "The time is up. We have to act now. If not, we won't have any credibility left."

Brooks Robinson, a spokeswoman for the US mission to the UN offices in Geneva, said the response to the team had been delayed because of the US's review process, which was "thorough and independent".

Fonte: http://www.cubalife.com/