Does Amnesty International believe that captured Taleban and Al Qaeda members are Prisoners of War (PoWs)?
This is something for a court to decide, not Amnesty International, not politicians, not military commanders, and not public opinion. Under the third Geneva Convention, all captured combatants must initially be presumed to be PoWs. If the status of any prisoners is in dispute — which is clearly the case here — the matter must be brought before a competent tribunal to determine who can continue to be held, and under what grounds. The fundamental purpose of the Convention is to • recognize that serving a government or resistance movement in combat is not in itself a crime; and • to protect combatants from being arbitrarily treated as criminals when captured by oppopsing forces An independent US court — or other court — should determine whether or not the prisoners at Guantnamo are PoWs. This is also the position held by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the most authoritative interpreter of the Geneva Conventions.
