RIYADH, 14 March 2003 — A US announcement that a handful of prisoners will be released from Guantanamo Bay is a ploy to win over Muslim public opinion as war looms with Iraq, a lawyer for Saudi detainees said yesterday.
“The US administration aims from the announcement to boost its image in Muslim countries because a war against Iraq is nearing without UN authorization,” Kateb Al-Shemmary said in a statement.
Pierre-Richard Prosper, US ambassador at large for war crimes, said on Monday that Washington planned to free a “handful” of prisoners who “no longer pose a threat to the international community.”
Al-Shemmary, who is also secretary-general of an association called the Committee for the Defense of Guantanamo Detainees, said only three people had so far been released, all of them old and one suffering from a mental disorder. “I urge US authorities to immediately free all innocent prisoners, allow others to defend themselves and permit lawyers and reporters to visit them,” he added.
About 650 men from some 40 different countries are held without trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on suspicion of having links with the Al-Qaeda network.
