Military Prison's Closure Is Urged

White House spokesman Tony Snow defended the Bush administration's policies at Guantanamo Bay, saying that "everything that is done in terms of questioning detainees is fully within the boundaries of American law."

The Bush administration sent a large delegation to Geneva earlier this month to answer the U.N. committee's questions. It also submitted a 184-page defense of its treatment of detainees in its fight against terrorism. "It was not a particularly auspicious time for the United States to have to be filing a periodic report before the convention against torture, in the aftermath of Abu Ghraib," said Bellinger, who headed the U.S. delegation. "But we take our obligations seriously, and we did not shy away from going to Geneva."

Bellinger said that the United States "has respect for the committee" and that it will comply with a request to provide additional responses to questions by next year. But he said the committee's report is "skewed and reaches well beyond the scope and mandate of the committee."

For instance, there "is nothing in the convention that says anything about holding people indefinitely . . .," he said. "So it's outside the scope for them to be calling for the closure of Guantanamo."

Human rights and civil rights advocates have raised concerns about the fate of those kept at Guantanamo Bay, and of those who are transferred to other countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, which has a history of abusing political detainees. They noted that the committee's report has undercut confidence in the United States' ability to ensure the safety of detainees who are transferred abroad.

"The message from the torture committee leaves no doubt that the U.S. policies and practices at home and abroad violated bedrock principles against torture and abuse," said Jamil Dakwar, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Rights advocates pressed the United States to accept the committee's recommendations. Gabor Rona, an expert on the committee at the New York based-advocacy groups Human Rights First, urged the United States to "take immediate steps to implement" legislation by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) that would establish "a single clear interrogation standard for all U.S. officials that clearly prohibits all forms of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of anyone in U.S. custody, anywhere in the world."

In the report issued Friday, described as an "advance unedited version," the committee said it welcomes the U.S. commitment that officials from all U.S. government agencies, including contractors, "are prohibited from engaging in torture at all times and in all places." It also welcomed the U.S. pledge not to transfer terrorism suspects to countries where they would "more likely than not" face torture.

But the committee expressed skepticism about the United States' commitment to comply with such pledges, citing concern about the adequacy of a U.S. policy of obtaining "diplomatic assurances" against torture from countries with poor rights records. It called on the United States to "cease" the transfer of "suspects, in particular by its intelligence agencies, to states where they face the real risk of torture."

Researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.