The Spanish government wants the U.S. prison at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba to be shut down as soon as possible, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, Spanish first vice prime minister said on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference, Fernandez said that the Guantanamo prison "is an aberration that should be brought to an end as soon as possible."

The jail had its five-year anniversary on Thursday, an event marked by a demonstration outside the military base by a group of activists from across the world.

Ban Ki-moon, the new UN secretary general, called for the jail's closure the same day during his first official press conference since taking office on Jan. 1, saying "like my predecessor, I believe that the prison at Guantanamo should be closed."

The U.S. has sought to keep prisoners out of its territory so that they will not be subject to normal U.S. laws, which limit the length of the detention period of suspects for questioning without trial.

U.S. authorities said their captives, mostly members of the Al-Qaida or Taliban, are too dangerous to undergo normal trials.

Over 770 people have been held at the camp over the past five years, out of whom only 10 have been charged. Currently there are 395 detainees at the camp.

Source: Xinhua