U.N. experts have reliable accounts of torture at Guantanamo

U.N. human rights experts seeking to visit the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay said Thursday they have reliable accounts that suspected terror detainees being held there have been tortured, reports AP.

The four independent experts said the United States had not responded to their numerous requests to check on the conditions of terror suspects at the U.S. Naval base in Cuba, as well as U.S. facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places of detention.

They said their request for a visit was "based on information, from reliable sources, of serious allegations of torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees, arbitrary detention, violations of their right to health and their due process rights."

"Many of these allegations have come to light through declassified (U.S.) government documents," they said.

Associated Press cites Paul Hunt, а New Zealander, who monitors physical and mental health: "Reportedly medical staff have assisted in the design of interrogation strategies, including sleep deprivation and other coercive interrogation methods."

The four experts have all been appointed to their three-year terms by the 53-nation U.N. Human Rights Commission, the global body's top rights watchdog. They act independently and are unpaid by the United Nations for their work although their expenses are paid, specifies AP.