U.N. wants to see Guantánamo suspects

UNITED NATIONS — U.N. human-rights investigators warned on Monday that they would snub a long-sought invitation to visit U.S. detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay if they are barred access to terrorist suspects held there.

The Pentagon on Thursday invited three of the experts to visit the detention facilities at the U.S. military base in Cuba. But while the experts said they were happy the invitation finally came after more than three years of requests, they would not go if they cannot interview the prisoners.

"It makes no sense [to go]," Manfred Nowak, special investigator on torture and other cruel treatment, told a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York. "You cannot do a fact-finding mission without talking to the detainees."

Nowak and Leila Zerrougi, chairwoman of the world body's working group on arbitrary detention, said they and fellow investigator Asma Jahangir would visit Guantánamo on Dec. 6 — but only if U.S. authorities permit them to interview detainees in private.

They said the Pentagon's letters of invitation specified they would not be granted access to detainees.