HYNDBURN MP Greg Pope was among the first people from Britain to visit the notorious US Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.

Mr Pope has often been critical of the controversial camp which is used to hold suspected terrorist prisoners, especially those thought to be linked to al-Qaeda or the Taliban.

He was invited to visit by the American Government after meeting officials six months ago as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

After raising concerns about the treatment of prisoners there and the legality of holding them, he was allowed to see the camp for himself.

As a result, he said some of his perceptions about the installation had changed.

He said: "Most of the facility is similar to a modern prison with excellent medical facilities. I cannot comment on what has happened in the past but it seems unlikely that there is any current mistreatment of detainees given the access we were given.

"However, on the legality of Guantanamo I was less convinced. The US case is based on the fact that it believes it is in a state of war and therefore it is legal to hold enemy combatants until hostilities cease.

"Those detainees who are tried by military tribunals may subsequently face indefinite detention even if acquitted, due to the fact that the US still considers them enemy fighters."

Mr Pope said he still believed the camp should be closed down and that his visit had done nothing to change his opinion.

He said: "It is doing immense damage to the reputation of America. The war on terror is, at least in part, a war to promote human rights and we cannot promote human rights if we are denying them to our opponents.

"But at the same time we should recognise that closure of the facility will not be easy. Some detainees cannot be returned to their country of origin because they may face torture or worse there.

"Also, some countries will refuse to accept their own citizens, and some of the detainees will continue to pose a violent threat to innocent citizens.

"It is time that those countries which have called for Guantanamo's closure step up to the plate and find solutions to the practical problems that closure poses."