[JURIST] British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett [official profile] on Thursday called [press release] the "continuing detention without a fair trial" at the US detention center at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] "unacceptable in terms of human rights" and "ineffective in terms of counterterrorism." In announcing the release of Britain's 2006 Report on Human Rights [TOC; full report, PDF], Beckett reiterated calls for the US to close Guantanamo [JURIST report]. She said the "existence of the camp is as much a radicalising and discrediting influence as it is a safeguard to security."

Beckett's remarks came on the same day that the UK Court of Appeal [official website] upheld the refusal of the Foreign Office [official website] to lobby for the release of nine former UK residents [JURIST report] who are still being held at Guantanamo. AP has more.