Archbishop Dr Sentamu speaks out against Guantanamo Bay

|TOP|Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York has claimed that the refusal of the U.S. Government to close down the Guantanamo Bay prison camp is a reflection of “a society that is heading towards George Orwell’s Animal Farm.”, reports the Church of England Newspaper.

Dr Sentamu was this week visiting Beeston, Leeds, the home of those responsible for the terrorist attacks on London that killed 52 people on 7th July last year.

In a move designed to improve relations between the Christian and Muslim communities, Sentamu spoke to Islamic leaders at a community centre near the home of one of the suicide bombers.

Some of the local community leaders at the Hamara Healthy Living Centre said that last years attacks had been a massive challenge for the area.

|QUOTE|Dr Sentamu said that: “The events of July demonstrated in London it did not divide the community, it brought it together. And no doubt it is the same here, too. I want you to go from strength to strength despite all the difficulties there have been in the past.”

The Archdeacon of Leeds, Peter Burrows was with the Archbishop, and accompanied him around the diocese. They visited such places as the Christian arts project, St George’s crypt and a centre for the homeless and asylum seekers.

Dr Sentamu is currently rallying the UN Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) to take legal action against the United States either through the U.S. courts or the International Court of Justice at The Hague, if the US fails to act upon a recent UN report.

The report was written by five UN inspectors, and published last Thursday. The inspectors were not given permission to interview the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay but advised that the camp be closed down at once due to allegations that torture was occurring at the camp.|AD|

One High Court judge, Mr Justice Collins claimed that U.S. actions in Guantanamo Bay do not “appear to coincide with that of most civilised nations.”

Dr Sentamu, speaking to The Independent newspaper also added that: “The American Government is breaking international law... The US should try all 500 detainees at Guantanamo, who still include eight British residents, or free them without further delay. To hold someone for up to four years without charge clearly indicates a society that is heading towards George Orwell’s Animal Farm.”

The U.S. has recently received a barrage of criticism over the Guantanamo Bay camp, including from such international notables as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

The United States Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, in a response to international criticism said: “We shouldn’t close Guantanamo. We have several hundred terrorists, bad people, people if they went back out on the field would try to kill Americans.”