Fed: Former detainees may be resettled in Australia - report
02 Jan 2009 3:17 AM
SYDNEY, Jan 2 AAP - Terror suspects held at the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay could be secretly resettled in Australia within the year.
US authorities have approached Australia and Britain about resettling detainees of the notorious prison, located at a US sovereign naval base in Cuba, in the wake of President-elect Brack Obama's plan to shut the prison within two years.
The Times of London reported on Thursday that Britain was preparing to take Guantanamo Bay detainees to allow the Obama administration to shut down the prison.
The Rudd government is now considering quietly accepting detainees, the Australian newspaper reported on Friday.
A spokesman for Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard told the newspaper that detainees could be accepted in Australia under strict conditions, but that there would be no wholesale intake of former detainees.
Ms Gillard's spokesman said each Guantanamo Bay inmate would go through "rigorous assessment processes" before being resettled.
Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull demanded transparency on the issue.
"There does not appear to be any legal basis under which Australia could hold the Guantanamo Bay detainees in custody," Mr Turnbull said.
"Mr Rudd needs to be upfront with the Australian people and say whether he intends to resettle Guantanamo detainees into the Australian community as migrants."
The US has cleared around 60 detainees for release, but they can't be returned to their home nations because of security concerns.
