EU to pressure US on closing Guantanamo camp

EU foreign ministers agreed at a meeting in Vienna this weekend that Europe can no longer ignore the extensive international criticism of the Guantanamo camp, which currently holds around 460 prisoners.

The camps existence undermines the west's fight against terrorism and legal principles, the ministers stated according to Danish daily Berlingske Tidende.

"We agreed to a common line, which says that the US government must take steps to close the prison as soon as possible," Danish foreign minister Per Stig Moller said according to Danmark's Radio (DR) news.

"We hold on to the fact that terrorism is a threat against our society. But in the fight against terrorism we cannot damage our own democracy and judicial institutions," he said.

The criticism agreed by the EU foreign ministers, however, is only an informal request and not an official declaration, reported DR news.

World-wide criticism

Last week, a special UN committee against torture came out with scathing criticism of the more than four year-old US policy of transporting terror suspects to the US base in Guantanamo Bay on Cuba where they are kept indefinitely without trial.

European leaders have been critical of documented abuses at Guantanamo, and human rights groups including Amnesty International have also called for the closure of the prison camp.

The US recently deflected criticism of Guantanamo from the its closest ally in Europe - the UK - saying the camp was necessary to gather those terrorists who are still a threat to the security of the United States.

Yesterday, the US also rejected claims by UK daily, the Independent, that some of the prisoners had been under age when they were first brought to the camp.