Washington has for the first time acknowledged to the United Nations that prisoners have been tortured at US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, a UN source said on Friday. The acknowledgment was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the 10-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity.

UA admits detainees tortured


The US has faced criticism from UN human rights experts and international groups for mistreatment of detainees - some of whom died in custody - in Afghanistan and Iraq, particularly during last year's prisoner abuse scandal surrounding the Abu Ghraib facility. Scores of US military personnel have been investigated, and several tried and convicted, for abuse of people detained during the US-led campaign against Islamic terrorist groups.

At the Guantanamo Bay naval base, where around 520 suspects of some 40 nationalities are held, allegations of torture and other claims of human rights breaches have been made.

Australian David Hicks is being held at Guantanamo and has been listed to stand trial. Washington's report to the committee reaffirms the US position that the Guantanamo detainees are classed as "enemy combatants" and therefore do not benefit from the POW status set out in the Geneva Conventions, the committee member said.