Guantanamo detainees in videolink to families: Red Cross

In this photo, reviewed by the U.S. military, a Guantanamo guard stands inside a doorway at Camp 6 detention facility at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba, May 31, 2009. Camp six is a medium-security facility with the capability of holding in maximum security a portion of its roughly 60 detainees, based on their compliance with rules, according to the U.S. Military.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Several detainees at the U.S. camp at Guantanamo Bay have made the first video-teleconference calls to their families, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Friday.

The humanitarian program, launched quietly Thursday, is available to all but the "high-value detainees" singled out by U.S. authorities, ICRC spokesman Simon Schorno said.

"U.S. authorities have the right to prevent detainees from taking part and also have the right to monitor and censor the video-conferencing calls," Schorno told Reuters.

More than 60 detainees have registered to take part in the link, under discussion since April, as U.S. authorities allow them progressively more contact with their loved ones, he said.

Guantanamo detainees have been allowed to make telephone calls to relatives since April 2008 and to send photos since the start of this year, Schorno said.

The controversial camp was set up by the Bush administration in early 2002 to hold foreigners captured after U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan to root out al Qaeda and its Taliban protectors in response to the of September 11, 2001 attacks.

Some 226 detainees, with 28 nationalities, are being held at the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba, which President Barack Obama intends to close by January 2010.

The ICRC, a neutral humanitarian agency whose officials have regularly visited Guantanamo detainees since January 2002, said calls last one hour and are limited to close relatives.

Schorno described the conversations as being "the visual equivalent of a Red Cross message," usually handwritten messages which detainees worldwide are able to send their loved ones.

Families place the calls at ICRC offices or national Red Cross/Red Crescent offices in their countries of residence. A similar video link has existed for U.S.-held suspects at Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan since early 2008.

The largest group of remaining detainees is from Yemen, followed by Afghans and Chinese Uighurs.

Some inmates are being released while others are expected to be tried in U.S. federal courts or in military commissions.

(Editing by Jonathan Lynn)