MPs attack Blair over Cuban jail

Tony Blair today faced direct and hostile questioning over the fate of the al Qaeda prisoners - including three Britons - held by the United States in Cuba.

In what was described as a "heated" meeting with Labour MPs, the Prime Minister was repeatedly challenged over charges that the captives had been maltreated and denied the cover of the Geneva Convention.

The complaints stretched beyond the regular critics from the Left, with the questioners including former Foreign Office minister Tony Lloyd and father of the house Tam Dalyell.

Mr Blair pointed out that the Red Cross was being allowed access to the prisoners at the US's Guantanamo base on Cuba. He said those held had been accused of terrible crimes. However, his critics said he had refused to take on board their questions over the legality of the captives' treatment, or whether Britons accused should be held by the US, possibly facing the death penalty.

Wider pressure over the issue was increased by UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson who said that, at what she called a time of stress and insecurity, it was all the more important international law be obeyed. Her call was complicated, however, by the US refusal to acknowledge that the "detainees" were prisoners of war.

No10 defended US handling of the affair so far. But the Prime Minister's spokesman pointed to potential difficulties between London and Washington over the captured Britons saying, when asked about their fate: "We have always had perfectly good, open, frank dialogue with our allies."

No10 and the Foreign Office were today unable to point to progress in the Government's request for access to the Britons.

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