U.N. condemns Guantanamo Bay prison

GENEVA, Switzerland, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Keeping the prison at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, open is in opposition to international legal norms, the U.N. rights commissioner said.

Late last year, the Defense Authorization Act "effectively" codified indefinite military detentions without charge, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said Monday.

"It is 10 years since the U.S. government opened the prison at Guantanamo and now three years since January 2009 when the president ordered its closure within 12 months," she said. "Yet the facility continues to exist and individuals remain arbitrarily detained -- indefinitely -- in clear breach of international law."

There are around 200 inmates at the detention facility, including such high-profile terrorism suspects as Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.

Obama in a December 2011 statement said he was signing the Defense Authorization Act but had "serious reservations" regarding provisions regarding Guantanamo Bay.

"I want to clarify that my administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens," Obama said. "Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation."

Pillay said added that she had serious concerns about the use of extraordinary interrogation techniques employed at the detention facility.

"Individuals found to have perpetrated, ordered, tolerated or condoned torture and ill-treatment should be brought to justice," she said.