During their 20-hour flight from Afghanistan to Guantanamo, the prisoners were hooded, shackled and some were reportedly sedated. Hooding is a violation of the 1984 Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment. Further, the men's hair and beards were shaved, a violation of human dignity under the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Once they arrived in Cuba, the prisoners were placed in 6-by-8-foot cages and exposed to the elements. Jamie Fellner, director of the U.S. Program at Human Rights Watch, called this "a scandal," adding, "The United States should not be transporting detainees to Cuba until it can provide decent shelter."

Photographs of the prisoners caused international outrage. They were shown kneeling and bound in shackles and manacles, with masks covering their mouths and noses, and goggles with black tape blinding their eyes. The International Committee of the Red Cross says the United States might have violated the Geneva Convention by distributing photos of the prisoners to the international media.

The Pentagon maintains the detainees are treated humanely, receiving "culturally appropriate" meals, medical treatment, showers and exercise. And military officials justify their actions on the grounds that some detainees have threatened to kill their American captors.

According to U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the detainees "will be handled not as prisoners of war, because they are not, but as unlawful combatants." This is an important distinction, given that under the Geneva Convention, POWs must be tried "by the same courts according to the same procedure as in the case of members of the armed forces of the detaining power." And unless they are charged with specific war crimes or crimes against humanity, POWs are to be released upon the cessation of hostilities.

"The secretary seems unaware of the international requirements of international humanitarian law," says Fellner. "As a party to the Geneva Conventions, the United States is required to treat every detained combatant humanely, including unlawful combatants. The United States may not pick and choose among them to decide who is entitled to decent treatment."

Javier Solana, foreign policy chief for the European Union, agrees, saying that "the Geneva Convention must be applied to everyone who is detained in similar circumstances." Despite Sept. 11, "changing our values and our way of life would be terrorism's first victory," Solana said.

Even in Britain, America's closest ally, there is growing concern over the treatment of the detainees held at Guantanamo, although the British government's support of the United States on the issue has been unwavering. The Church of England has made a plea to the United States to apply "proportionate and measured justice," and treat the prisoners with "humanity and dignity." Kevin McNamara of the Labor Party warned that the West is "in danger of losing the moral high ground."

Mary Robinson, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that the legal status of the detainees must be clarified, but in the meantime they should be treated as POWs. "They were combatants in an international conflict. It may be that some of them have also been involved in the al-Qaida conspiracy, that's quite likely, but they are entitled to POW status or, if that is defeated, there is provision in the Geneva Convention that it goes before a tribunal."

Rumsfeld says that he does not "feel the slightest concern about (the prisoners') treatment. They are being treated vastly better than they treated anybody else."

He misses the point: Every person around the world is entitled to basic standards of treatment as mandated by international law. Merely being better than Osama bin Laden should not be our standard.

David A. Love is a public-interest scholar at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He contributed to the book "States of Confinement: Policing, Detention and Prisons" (St. Martin's Press, 2000). He can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org.

###