Amnesty International Norway said Norwegian authorities have not been strong enough in their criticism of the way the US treat the prisoners at the US Guantanamo base on Cuba, Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported on Wednesday.

Amnesty's Secretary General Petter Eide said the Norwegian authorities have had opportunities to criticise the US, but that up to now their stand has been cowardly.

Eide pointed to the fact that Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel this weekend demanded that the US close down the prison with its 500 prisoners.

In Eide's opinion the Norwegian government has not dared to criticise what he calls encroachment and harassment of the prisoners at the base.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Jonas Gahr Stoere, however, refuted Eide's claims.

He pointed out that he himself has twice raised the issue with US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice, both in Washington and at the NATO summit in December.

"We find the treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo very serious," Stoere said.

He said to NRK that he will now study the new claims made by Amnesty International in a report.

The foreign minister also promised to have a closer look at the recent Amnesty report on the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo.

"The Americans can not say that they are above the law in the way that they treat prisoners and they can not say that some prisoners are not protected by law in regard to the rights the Geneva Convention gives them," Stoere said.

Source: Xinhua