US action condemned

The legal profession this week condemned the US government's treatment of prisoners in Camp X-Ray in Cuba and demanded they be allowed immediate access to legal counsel and medical treatment.Law Society President David McIntosh announced at a press conference that he would be writing to Prime Minister Tony Blair, asking him to take action.Mr McIntosh said: 'Irrespective of the charges that are levelled against the detainees, everyone has a right of access to justice.

We are not immediately concerned with the guilt of the prisoners, but their right to proper representation.' Mark Muller, deputy head of the Bar Council's human rights committee, said the US government had gone against all international norms.

'The prisoners haven't been charged, haven't been given a status and the only US prisoner, John Walker, has been sent home for trial, while all the others remain in Cuba,' he said.

'The UK government has got to do all in its power to ensure the rule of law applies not just to Zimbabwe and Africa - but also the US.'Louise Christian, a partner at London firm Christian Fisher - representing the family of UK prisoner Feroz Abbasi - said: 'The UK government is responsible for aiding and abetting the US in this unlawful detention of the prisoners, by virtue of MI6 passed-on information to US intelligence agents.'See Lawyer in the News, page 10Andrew Towler