| Mission of experts to Guantanamo |
On Wednesday, 19 August, a delegation of 6 people selected by the government will leave for Guantanamo Bay via the United States. Once the delegation arrives there, it will add information to the file of a former Guantanamo inmate whose application for residency in Belgium is currently being assessed.
Foreign Minister Yves Leterme reiterated that during a recent visit to Washington by his predecessor, Minister Karel De Gucht, De Gucht had been asked by his US counterpart, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, to consider the prospect of Belgium taking in some former Guantanamo inmates. When the Belgian federal government agreed in principle to give the idea some thought, several actual case files were submitted to it by the United States when Ambassador Dan Fried visited Belgium on 30 June.
After conducting an initial analysis of the potential risks involved, the Belgian federal government decided to consider two cases, one of which was subsequently withdrawn by the United States.
Once the relevant departments at the FPS Justice, FPS Social Integration, FPS Interior and FPS Foreign Affairs had examined the file, it was decided to send an interdepartmental mission of experts to Guantanamo to carry out some research in situ and meet the individual in question.
Of course, that individual is an ex-inmate from Guantanamo whose case, based on the facts known at the present time, will not go to trial.
Depending on the findings of the mission of experts, the government will decide whether or not Belgium is willing to take in the individual and. If so it will set precise criteria governing that person¿s Belgian residency.
|
Top page
