Germany’s top security official defends move to consider accepting Guantanamo inmates

German minister defends Guantanamo move

BERLIN — Germany’s top security official on Thursday defended his decision to consider taking in prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, despite criticism from within his own conservative party.

While other European countries have taken in prisoners released from the detention center, Germany so far has held back. But Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere recently reopened discussions with the U.S. about possibly taking in selected inmates.

He noted Thursday that Germany has called for Guantanamo’s closure.

“Many countries have now taken in prisoners — Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland too,” de Maiziere said on ZDF television. “If our most important partner, which gives us important information in the fight against terrorism … asks for help, then that is always worth examining in solidarity.”

He said no decision has yet been made and none is imminent.

The United States has been asking countries to take in former prisoners on grounds that in some cases it is not safe to send them home, because they might suffer reprisals after being in U.S. custody.

De Maiziere’s predecessor, Wolfgang Schaeuble, who is now finance minister, was unenthusiastic about the idea. And some German politicians, particularly in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc, remain skeptical — pointing to potential security risks and arguing that it shouldn’t be up to other countries to take in prisoners from the U.S. prison.

“Unfortunately, I don’t see that there is any will in America to take in the prisoners itself,” Erika Steinbach, a prominent conservative lawmaker, told ZDF.

“It has been seen that released prisoners have committed crimes,” Uwe Schuenemann, the conservative state interior minister of Lower Saxony, was quoted as telling the daily Nordwest-Zeitung. “That is, of course, an enormous risk.”

De Maiziere acknowledged “there is no decision without risks” but said Germany wants to be sure that any inmates it might accept don’t pose problems.