BRUSSELS—In response to the news that the American government is planning to close the U.S. military prison Guantanamo Bay, the Belgian government has said it will accept a number of Guantanamo prisoners.
Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht met recently with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington D.C. to discuss the possibility of transferring several detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Belgium.
Belgium already said it would accept “a certain number of prisoners” freed from Guantanamo when Clinton visited Brussels earlier in March. However, the number of prisoners Belgium would take is limited and there are also certain conditions.
The plan has been criticized by Renaat Landuyt of the SP-A party.
“We are dealing with overcrowded prisons in Belgium. I can’t imagine De Gucht talked this matter over with his colleagues in the Belgian Government,” Landuyt said.
Earlier this week, Belgian and Dutch authorities negotiated regarding the transfer of 500 Belgian prisoners to Tilburg Prison in Holland. Dutch prisons have an overcapacity of 2,000 cells due to decreasing crime in Holland. As a result, the Dutch Ministry of Justice is closing down eight prisons.
“De Gucht urgently needs to discuss this matter with his Justice colleagues. We don’t have enough free cells to detain our own prisoners. International cooperation can only be proposed according to the possibilities you really have,” Landuyt said.
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