Spanish judge starts Guantanamo torture probe

A Spanish judge started a criminal investigation on Wednesday into alleged torture of detainees in the U.S. base at Guantanamo.

Judge Baltasar Garzon, who once tried to extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, will probe the "perpetrators, the instigators, the necessary collaborators and accomplices" to crimes of torture at the prison at the U.S. naval base in southern Cuba, he said in ruling

The judge based his decision on statements by Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, known as the "Spanish Taliban" and three other former Guantanamo detainees -- a Moroccan, a Palestinian and a Libyan -- who alleged they had suffered torture at the camp.

"It seems that the documents declassified by the U.S. administration mentioned by the media have revealed what was previously a suspicion -- the existence of an authorized and systematic program of torture" at Guantanamo and other prisons including that in Bagram in Afghanistan, Garzon said.

It seems that the documents declassified by the U.S. administration mentioned by the media have revealed what was previously a suspicion -- the existence of an authorized and systematic program of torture" at Guantanamo and other prisons including that in Bagram in Afghanistan

Judge Baltasar Garzon

Forced to give up probe

The criminal investigation comes just weeks after Spain's most famous judge was forced to give up an attempt to initiate a probe into six former Bush administration officials, including ex-U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, over Guantanamo.

U.S. President Barack Obama criticized the potential investigation into the former Bush officials. Spanish authorities had said it was not legally permissible but Garzon defied pressure to drop the case.

Spain has since 2005 operated under the principle of "universal jurisdiction," a doctrine that allows courts to reach beyond national borders in cases of torture, terrorism or war crimes, although the government reportedly aims to limit the scope of the legal process.

Several human rights groups have asked judges in different countries to indict Bush administration officials over the camp, which U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to close by Jan. 2010.

More than 800 detainees have been held at the U.S. military prison since 2002.

Some 240 people are still there. About 60 of them have been deemed eligible for release, but the Obama administration is struggling to arrange their transfer to a third country.