Monday, March 06, 2006

Archbishop of Canterbury attacks Guantanamo


Rowan Williams attacks Guantanamo camp

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a scathing attack on Guantanamo Bay, branding the US prison camp an "extraordinary legal anomaly."

Dr Rowan Williams said holding people who had not been found guilty, or allowed access to proper legal channels, set a dangerous precedent.

The archbishop was interviewed during a visit to Sudan, broadcast on Sunday.

"I think what we've got in Guantanamo is an extraordinary legal anomaly creating a new category of custody with prisoners," he said.

"Now precedents matter in law, nationally and internationally. Any message given, that any state can just over-ride some of these basic habeas corpus-type provisions, is going to be very welcome to tyrants elsewhere in the world, now and in the future.

"Once again, words have consequences, policies have consequences. What, in 10 years' time, are people going to be able to say about a system that tolerates this?"

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

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