Britain awaits Camp X-Ray report

First pictures of the men as they arrived at the base sparked controversy

British officials who have visited Camp X-Ray in Cuba are expected to report back to ministers on the conditions for the al-Qaeda suspects.

The team spent the weekend inspecting the Guantanamo Bay base - where three men claiming to be Britons are among the detainees.

Their report is expected to detail the welfare and conditions of al-Qaeda suspects being held by the US, amid growing international concern that their human rights are being abused.

There are 144 prisoners at the base, after the arrival of 34 more suspects early on Monday. The camp is eventually expected to hold more than 300 detainees.

Prisoners should be treated humanely and in accordance with customary international law

Jack Straw

Foreign Secretary Jack Straw instructed the team to quiz the US authorities about Pentagon pictures showing captives handcuffed, hooded and kneeling on their arrival at the centre.

The officials - believed to include British intelligence officers - flew back to Washington on Sunday and will report to ministers on Monday, who will then make their own assessment.

Click here for details of a prisoner's cell

While Downing Street does not want to be seen as criticising the US over the treatment of prisoners at Camp X-Ray, it is clear there is concern, especially from a number of Labour MPs.

Number 10 has warned people against rushing to judgement, stating that initial reports suggest the photographs were taken as the detainees arrived at the base.

Humane treatment

Mr Straw said: "The British Government's position is that prisoners - regardless of their technical status - should be treated humanely and in accordance with customary international law.

"We have always made that clear and the Americans have said they share this view."

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

Menzies Campbell

The US - which maintains the detainees are being treated humanely - refuses to call them prisoners of war, referring to them as illegal combatants.

Under the Geneva Convention, PoWs must be tried by the same courts and under the same procedures as US soldiers.

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

These are also, apparently, the same people who helped plan and set up the operation that destroyed the Twin Towers in New York and killed something like 4,000 people

Iain Duncan Smith

Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman, warned the photographs would have a damaging effect on the credibility of the international coalition against terrorism.

It would undercut "the moral high ground that both Mr Bush and Mr Blair enjoyed as a result of their robust response immediately after the September 11", he said.

"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," Mr Campbell added.

Ambassador Ali Muhsen Hamid, head of the Mission for the Arab League in London, told BBC Radio 4's Today the treatment of detainees in Cuba was inhumane.

"They are not treated like prisoners of war, they are treated like animals here.

"They are blindfolded.

"There are some fears in the Arab world that this violation of human rights will not give any credibility to the US cry for human rights."

But defence analyst William Owen said the Americans were following standard procedures to move high category value prisoners of war in a "safe and secure fashion".

The cross-party Parliamentary Human Rights Committee is lobbying for a meeting with the US ambassador William Farish this week to discuss conditions at the camp.

'Dangerous' inmates

The US military has already brought more than 100 captives from Afghanistan to Guantanamo.

The temporary camp will soon be able to hold 320, or more if they are housed two to a cell.

Workers are building a permanent prison for up to 2,000.

Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said the prisoners were potentially very dangerous.

"These are also, apparently, the same people who helped plan and set up the operation that destroyed the Twin Towers in New York and killed something like 4,000 people," he told BBC's Breakfast with Frost.

Click here for more information on the prison conditions