Amnesty Challenges US
Open Guantanamo Bay to observers
AFP, Tokyo
The head of Amnesty International yesterday hit back at US outrage over the group labelling Guantan-amo Bay a "gulag" and challenged Washington to open the military detention centre to outside inspections. US President George W. Bush and other government figures have said they were shocked when the human rights group accused the United States of running "a new gulag of prisons around the world beyond the reach of the law and decency". The secretary general of London-based Amnesty International, Irene Khan, on Thursday defended the comment and said the US response lacked substance and was "defensive and dismissive". "We have not seen from them a more detailed response to the concerns we have expressed in our report," she told a news conference on a visit to Tokyo. "Our answer is simple: if that is so (that the allegations are unfounded), open up these detention centres. Allow us and others to visit them.
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