Iraq detainees 'not going to Cuba'

Iraq detainees 'not going to Cuba'

The Red Cross did not comment on Iraqi POWs' conditions

The Pentagon has denied reports in the US media that it plans to send some of the Iraqi prisoners to the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The reports, in the Washington Post on Monday, said that US Marines had already detained more than 300 Iraqis in civilian clothes suspected of being involved in guerrilla attacks against coalition forces.

The newspaper said the group - with unclear combatant status - was being kept separately from Iraqi army prisoners of war (POWs) and could be sent to Guantanamo Bay, where the US is holding hundreds of men captured in Afghanistan.

The report came as members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited one of the camps for Iraqi POWs in southern Iraq.

The ICRC - in line with its policy - refused to comment on conditions in the camp, saying only that if there were problems, they would be taken up with the camp's authorities.

US-UK 'differences'

But Pentagon spokeswoman Navy Lieutenant Commander Barbara Burfield said that "the US does not intend sending these EPWs (enemy prisoners of war) to Guantanamo".

The US is holding hundreds without charge at Guantanamo

"It is far too early in the conflict to make any decision regarding the future of those individuals," the spokeswoman added.

However, UK media reports suggest there are growing differences between US and British commanders over how such prisoners should be treated.

The UK military reportedly wants all such individuals - including paramilitaries - to go before the new international criminal court.

Washington does not recognise the tribunal.

Detainees' status

The US has argued that some of the detainees may be so-called "illegal combatants" because of their involvement with paramilitary squads and attacks on the US-led forces.

It has said that as such they fall outside the scope of the Geneva Convention, governing the treatment of POWs, and can be refused access to lawyers or a court.

On Monday, the Washington Post quoted US military officials as saying that currently the suspect detainees would be treated like POWs, but without official status.

The newspaper said that a special hearing would be then held in Iraq to determine whether the detainees should be released, held as POWs or declared illegal combatants.

It said that in the latter case the detainees would be sent to Guantanamo Bay, where more than 600 al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects are still being held.

The US has been criticised by human rights groups for holding the prisoners indefinitely without charge - leaving them in legal limbo.