Official tells Senate Australia could not send psychiatrist to Guantanamo Bay

[struggle4progress]

The Associated Press
Published: February 14, 2007

CANBERRA, Australia: ... Rod Smith, a senior Foreign Department official, told a Senate committee inquiry that Australia's embassy in Washington wrote to the Pentagon on Dec. 5 last year to request a psychiatric assessment of David Hicks on behalf of his lawyers and family ...

The office of the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense replied on Jan. 26 in a letter that said: "The Department generally does not allow independent medical professionals to meet with detainees at Guantanamo." ...

Asked why the government had not pressed the Americans to allow an independent assessment by a profession Hicks' could trust, Smith said it was the Pentagon's prerogative and "we have no reason to doubt the competence" of the medical staff at Guantanamo.

Smith confirmed that Hicks spent 22 hours a day alone in his cell, had his toilet paper rationed and had had his comb confiscated ...

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/02/15/asia/AS-GEN-Australia-Guantanamo-Inmate.php