Czechs refuse ex-terror suspects
Security concerns halt U.S. asylum plans for Guantanamo prisoners
By Peter Kononczuk
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
November 09, 2005 The government says security fears prompted it to turn down a U.S. request to grant asylum to former terrorist suspects who are being released from jail in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But following a report Nov. 2 in The Washington Post that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has been running secret prisons in Eastern Europe, the Interior Ministry in Prague says it has never been asked to detain those still suspected of terrorism. In news reports last week, Czech and foreign media conflated the two issues: the U.S. asylum request and The Washington Post's story. "The United States did not ask the Czech Republic to host a facility to hold prisoners," said Interior Ministry spokeswoman Radka Kovár ová. Poland and Romania also deny they have secret CIA jails. A month ago the U.S. Embassy in Prague asked the Czech government to grant asylum to a number of Muslims of Chinese origin formerly suspected of being terrorists, said embassy spokesman Jan Krc . He did not say how large the group was. The men were not found to have any links to the al Qaeda network and were to be released from the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, where the United States detains hundreds of men captured during the Iraq and Afghanistan invasions. The group faces persecution if they return to China, according to Krc . The U.S. overture to the Czechs about asylum was "a humanitarian request because we clearly need to place these people somewhere," Krc said. He added the intention was that the ex-prisoners would have as much liberty as anyone else given asylum. However, Bublan turned down the Americans' request, as did 10 other European states approached by the United States, including Germany and the Netherlands, said Kovár ová. "Minister Bublan evaluated the whole issue and, bearing in mind potential security hazards, said he would not see offering asylum to these persons as appropriate." Meanwhile, The Washington Post's report that the CIA runs prisons in eight countries  which it did not name  with the aim of interrogating detainees outside the reach of the American justice system stirred concern from watchdogs, who said such jails would contravene European Union rules on human rights. Krc said that the U.S. Embassy's asylum request was unconnected with the news story on secret CIA jails.  Petr Kas par contributed to this report. Peter Kononczuk can be reached at pkononczuk@praguepost.com
Reader's Comments: [14/11/2005] : Many Americans who helped Eastern and Central European countries embrace the principles of the rule of law and transparency in government to join the nations of the world who reject torture are now horrified to find that we have met the enemy and it is us.
News reports about the Bush administration's policy of torture of prisoners in an unamed Eastern European country is highly disturbing to freedom loving Americans including our former President Jimmy Carter and Senator John McCain of Arizona, himself a former prisoner of war.
Even though the Eastern European nation has not been named all one has to do is turn to the list of countries on Bush's "Coalition of the Willing" for a big fat clue.
The Czech Republic was never duped into joining the list even though one of your foreign ministers was wined and dined and made pronouncements; your Parliament was said no to joining the Coalition. Remember the countries that courageously signed up to defend the US national security interest and possibly qualify for lucrative contracts?? Opps, big contracts didn't necessarily materialize (no surprise there).
But then there's those old abandoned Soviet military bases. It doesn't take a Soviet or US rocket scientist to figure out this one - but we'll just wait until more wining and dining on the next official state visit from the President of Poland for the official announcement.
Paulette Will
Minneapolis, Minnesota
A detainee is escorted to a medium security facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Some men imprisoned at Guantanamo are not considered a threat by the Pentagon. 
For months United States officials have been trying to find a country which will grant these men asylum.

"What's clear here is that the military had its own military secret tribunal. There were no lawyers there, I wasn't there," said a Boston attorney who represents two of the detainees in question. "They determined at this tribunal that these men were not al Qaeda, they were not Taliban. They were not criminals, they were not enemies. They were a mistake."

Three months ago, the US Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Jan Krc, asked that country to give asylum to a group of Guantanamo detainees which would have set them free in Europe. The U.S. request to the Czechs about asylum was "a humanitarian request because we clearly need to place these people somewhere," Krc said.

US Judge James Robertson said in December 2005 that "nothing… establishes that the government has or could reasonably have a concern that these petitioners would return to the battlefield if released." 

The U.S. State Department told ABC News yesterday in a written statement,"It is the long-standing policy of the United States not to transfer a person to a country if it is determined that it is more likely than not that the person will be tortured… we are looking into resettlement… outside China." However,the US government has denied granting asylum within the USA to these men.

With regard to Guantanamo Bay prisoners in general, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan said yesterday, "These are dangerous terrorists that we're talking about that are there and I think we've talked about that issue before and nothing's changed in terms of our views." McClellan added, "We know that these are dangerous terrorists that are being kept at Guantanamo Bay. They are people that are determined to harm innocent civilians or harm innocent Americans. They were enemy combatants picked up on the battlefield in the war on terrorism."