2002: Camp X-Ray pictures spark outrage

The publication of photographs of prisoners being held at a US military camp in Cuba has led to concern that their human rights are being abused.

The Pentagon has released the pictures showing the detainees kneeling and subjected to sensory deprivation on their arrival at Camp X-Ray, which is housed in a military base at Guantanamo Bay.

They are seen handcuffed, wearing goggles, ear muffs, surgical masks and heavy gloves.

A new group of 34 prisoners have arrived at Camp X-Ray, taking the total number being held there to 144.

US forces captured the men during military operations in Afghanistan on suspicion of links to the Taleban and al-Qaeda.

'Terrible nightmares'

Human rights activists have objected to the prisoners being shackled and kept in temporary eight-by-eight feet cells made of wire mesh and corrugated metal roofs, leaving them subject to adverse weather.

Amnesty International, the human rights group, says conditions there fall below US standards for ordinary prisoners and the men are being degraded.

The director of the British-based Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, Helen Bamber, said: "They will probably have panic attacks, mood changes and terrible nightmares."

But Washington says the pictures show the men arriving at the camp and were not representative of daily life there.

It says they have been treated humanely and been given adequate provisions.

The US military has stressed the prisoners are extremely dangerous and said it will press ahead with plans to expand Camp X-Ray so it can hold 320 prisoners.

Hundreds of detainees remain in custody in Afghanistan awaiting transfer to the camp.

A permanent prison which will hold up to 1,000 detainees is currently under construction at Guantanamo Bay.

Last week, a team from the International Committee of the Red Cross started evaluating conditions at the US military camp and interviewing detainees.

Officials will report on whether the captives are being treated humanely in accordance with the Geneva Conventions on prisoners of war.

But the US insists the men are not PoWs but illegal combatants, which means they can be interrogated without legal representation.

Under the Geneva Conventions, prisoners would be tried for war crimes through courts martial or civilian courts, not by secretive military tribunals which could impose the death penalty.

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