GENEVA CONVENTION COMPLAINT

Lawyers for 30 detainees at the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba are taking the American government to task for failing to meet Geneva Convention standards during their detention. The lawyers argue the violations, such as solitary confinement for 22 hours a day, are part of an established policy against their clients at the prison. The complaint is the latest legal step in a three-year saga that began when the US Supreme Court determined inmates can challenge their detention in the civil justice system. More than 800 men and teenagers have passed through Guantanamo since it was opened in January 2002 by former president George W. Bush. President Obama has vowed to close the prison by late January 2010.