UN torture expert: No visit to Guantanamo before terms ends

The U.N.’s special representative on torture expects he will end his six-year term without visiting the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Juan Mendez said Tuesday that he was invited to visit Guantanamo in 2012 but on conditions that he could not accept. He said he has been unable to appeal those terms.

“The terms that I was offered was basically a tour of parts of the facility, but not all. A briefing by the authorities but specifically that I could not talk to any inmate there. So I’m insisting that that’s a non-starter,” Mendez said.

In the continental U.S., only New York City’s Rikers Island prison allowed him to visit on his terms.

Mendez, who was tortured during Argentina’s military dictatorship, ends his term on Oct. 31 when he will be replaced by Nils Melzer of Switzerland.