Coalition at odds over Cuba camp

THE treatment of al-Qaeda prisoners held at a US naval base in Cuba was last night threatening to undermine the close relationship forged between Britain and the United States after the 11 September terrorist outrages.

Amid international condemnation of the conditions at Guantánamo Bay, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, demanded that the prisoners were treated humanely. He stepped up the pressure on the US after the publication of photographs of the detainees - thought to include three Britons - gagged, blindfolded and manacled.

MPs, including a senior Labour figure, said the images proved the US-led coalition had lost the moral legitimacy achieved during the war against terrorism.

Downing Street was struggling to play down the significance of Mr Straw’s comments, while US authorities continued to insist conditions at Camp X-Ray, as the centre has been dubbed, were lawful.

The US has been criticised for refusing to classify the 110 inmates as prisoners of war, the necessary requisite for the Geneva Convention to apply.

Mr Straw said he had made it clear to the US State Department the British government believed the detainees should be treated properly "regardless of their technical status". He pointed out the US had allowed the Red Cross and British officials, including intelligence officers, access to the camp.

Mr Straw added: "I await the British officials’ report. As for the photographs of detainees, I have asked our officials in Guantánamo Bay to establish with the US the circumstances in which these photographs were taken."

The photographs, apparently released by the Pentagon, showed that the detainees had been handcuffed, put in leg-irons and subjected to sensory deprivation during their journey from Afghanistan to Cuba. It is believed the photographs were taken shortly after their arrival and it is unclear whether they represent current conditions.

Menzies Campbell, foreign affairs spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, said the pictures were "undercutting the moral high ground that both Mr Bush and Mr Blair enjoyed as a result of their robust response immediately after the September 11attacks".

He added: "You only have to ask yourself the question what sort of effect will these pictures have in capitals like, for example Cairo, or Amman in Jordan. The human rights of British captives, if any of these are established to be British, should not be dealt with in this way."

Donald Anderson, the Labour chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said the images were "very disturbing".

He said: "We need to be different and seen to be different, otherwise we lose the high ground and we give gifts to the enemies of the coalition."

Tony Lloyd, the former Foreign Officer minister, called on the government to step up pressure on the US to comply with the Geneva Convention. He said: "Britain is a civilised nation; we must insist ourselves that we abide by the Geneva Convention, and we have got to insist that our allies, and we were America’s closest ally, stick by that minimum standard."

Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, maintained a hardline stance, claiming the detainees were "tough, hard-core, well-trained terrorists".

He said: "There is no doubt in my mind that it is humane and appropriate and consistent with the Geneva Convention for the most part."

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman called for restraint until the Red Cross and British officials had reported back .

Britain, meanwhile, pledged up to £200 million to the international fund to rebuild Afghanistan.

In a separate criticism, the Most Rev Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Wales and a leading contender to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury, said the war against terrorism was "morally tainted".