Wickham's musings from Chalke

I’m amazed that the US has managed to keep people arrested in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for so long without giving them access to lawyers or the courts. They have been held for over two years now. A few have been released to Britain but the British authorities had to assure the Americans that they would be arrested here. They were arrested but immediately released. No doubt the Americans realised this would happen but didn’t want to appear to be freeing them.

The freed men told of bad treatment and torture of inmates and I don’t think charities or aid agencies have been allowed to see the inmates much. Contact with relatives has been minimal, if at all. They have been kept in seclusion like animals in a cage. The UN has been generally quiet except for very mild criticism. No doubt the UN is very aware that it depends on the US for money and resources so it can’t be too critical.

Most countries have a law which only allows authorities to hold a person for a short time before he has to be brought to court except in the case of terrorism when indefinite arrest is possible but the Americans have taken it too far. The UN should make all countries aware that trials should always begin within a few weeks in these situations. If there is no immediate evidence people should be released.

What do the Americans think will happen in the long run? Even if they sentence all detainees to prison for long periods these men when released in many years time will still be terrorists and will have a big incentive to carry on fighting. They must also realise that there is little evidence against many prisoners who will have to be released. These people will have a real grudge.

It must be true that holding suspects for long periods without trial just encourages others to become terrorists and sets a bad example. The Americans had some justification for fighting Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan but have looked like bullies throughout the whole Iraq affair and in the treatment of prisoners from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Only now have lawyers managed to start an action in the US courts to determine whether the detentions are justified. The actual trials of detainees haven’t started and don’t seem to be imminent.