UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — A UN rights official on Wednesday said he expected the next US administration to shut down its detention facility for suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"I have strong expectations that the new (US) administration, irrespective of the name of the new president, will rapidly announce a plan to close the Guantanamo detention facility," Martin Scheinin, the UN special rapporteur on the protection of human rights in the fight against terrorism, told reporters.
"I am basing myself on the public statements by Senator (John) McCain and Senator (Barack) Obama who both have criticized the Guantanamo regime in fairly strongly worded statements, which to me passes the message that they are going to do something to close down the detention facility," he added.
He was referring to the two rival US presidential candidates.
Scheinin, a Finnish law professor, said the closure of Guantanamo would then lead to the "release of detainees who have already been determined as posing no threat" and to the trial of those who are suspected of serious crimes in US federal courts.
Tuesday, the White House said US President George W. Bush would likely keep the Guantanamo prison open before handing his successor the keys to the White House in January.
"We've long said that it won't be closed before the end of the president's term," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said of the facility, reviled around the world as a symbol of heavy-handed US "war on terrorism" tactics.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said closing Guantanamo would first require a law from Congress banning the released suspects from emigrating to the United States.
The chief challenge is where to put the detainees now held at the US Navy-run prison, as some of their home countries balk at taking them.
Washington says it fears other nations may not keep close enough tabs on them, or in other cases may mistreat their returning nationals.
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