LONDON, 27 November 2003 — One of Britain’s most senior judges condemned the United States yesterday for its “monstrous failure of justice” in holding prisoners at the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

In a speech made in London, released to Britain’s independent Channel 4 News, Judge Johan Steyn said the suspects were being held at a US naval base in conditions of “utter lawlessness”. His comments come amid frantic efforts by London to have nine British detainees returned home to face trial rather than go before a US military court.

“The purpose of holding the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay was and is to put them beyond the rule of law, beyond the protection of any courts, and at the mercy of victors,” Steyn will say.

Nine Britons are held at Guantanamo, among 660 detainees held without charge as “enemy combatants” at the naval base.

Their treatment has appalled many Britons and human rights groups who believe the prisoners will be deprived of a fair trial. “The procedural rules do not prohibit the use of force to coerce prisoners to confess,” Steyn’s speech said.

“The blanket presidential order deprives them all of any rights whatsoever. As a lawyer brought up to admire the ideals of American democracy and justice, I would have to say that I regard this as a monstrous failure of justice.”

The prison was set up in January 2002 to hold combatants captured in Afghanistan and also houses others suspected of association with Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, accused by Washington of carrying out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and a host of other bombings.

Steyn urged the British government to speak out on behalf of all the 660 detainees from 42 different countries. “It may be appropriate to pose a question: ought our government to make plain publicly and unambiguously our condemnation of the utter lawlessness at Guantanamo Bay?” Steyn asked.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw yesterday reiterated British concern over the plight of nationals held at Guantanamo Bay after Prime Minister Tony Blair failed to obtain any concessions during a London visit by US President George W. Bush. “I am concerned about the situation in Guantanamo Bay — we have been for some time,” Straw said on a visit to Baghdad that had been kept under tight wraps for security reasons.

The British foreign minister declined to elaborate on his comments, saying his two-day inspection tour, which had started Tuesday, was focused on Iraq. His comments came a day Steyn described the Guantanamo detainees’ imprisonment as a “monstrous failure of justice” and said they were being held in conditions of “utter lawlessness”.

Meanwhile, the US Army brought four new charges, including adultery and viewing pornography, on Tuesday against a Muslim chaplain who worked with terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, but ordered him released from detention to return to military duty.

Yee now faces a total of six charges, including the charge that the married chaplain had sexual intercourse with a woman other than his wife in Orlando, Florida, and at Guantanamo.

In another development, a Canadian citizen, who was released from Guantanamo recently, has been refused assistance and the ability to return to Canada, a lawyer for his family said in Toronto yesterday.

Abdulrahman Khadr, who had been held in Cuba since March, was released and returned to Afghanistan, where he had been arrested some two years ago as a suspected Al-Qaeda fighter.