[JURIST] The United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) [official website] said Friday in a report [PDF] on its annual review [JURIST report] of US compliance with the Convention Against Torture [text] that the United States should shut down its prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive]. The report also urged the US to end the practice of extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] and release the location of alleged secret US prisons. The panel additionally expressed concern about the US denying the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [official website] access [press release] to terror detainees held in the alleged covert prisons.

The appearance by the US before the panel earlier this month was its first in six years. During the review, US Department of State legal adviser John Bellinger [official profile] told the panel that US intelligence agencies have consulted with the US Justice Department to make certain that internal policies follow the law, including the Detainee Treatment Act [JURIST document], but he refused to discuss specific interrogation practices with the committee. AP has more.