Two Britons freed from the US military base in Guantanamo Bay have told President George W. Bush that they suffered abuse similar to that inflicted on Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison, the British Guardian newspaper reported Friday.

 

In an open letter to Bush, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal accused US military officials of deliberately misleading the public about procedures at Guantanamo, where about 600 detainees are held without trial, the paper said.

 

Rasul and Iqbal, who were freed in March after being arrested in Afghanistan and held without charge for more than two years, alleged in the letter that heavy-handed treatment was systematic.

 

"From the moment of our arrival in Guantanamo Bay, we were deliberately humiliated and degraded by methods we now read US officials denying," the paper quoted the letter as saying.

 

According to the report, Iqbal and Rasul have issued repeated allegations of abuse at the camp since their release in March. But their previous claims were dismissed by the US Embassy in London.

 

However, their latest challenge looked set to receive a more serious hearing after two weeks in which the United States has been convulsed by photos of torture and humiliation at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, the paper added.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 15, 2004)