Beijing, January 12 (RHC)-- China described the prison's existence at the Guantanamo naval base as a dark page in the history of human rights and urged the United States to close it along with other similar prisons.

Wang Wenbin, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, deplored Washington's continued operation of the facility and its abuse of 39 detainees, despite international calls for its closure.

He recalled that in the last 20 years, the mistreatment of Guantanamo prison inmates outraged the world. The White House broke its repeated promise to close it and confined people without even having criminal charges.

"The United States operates secret prisons all over the world, and Guantanamo is just the tip of the iceberg (...) this and other dark prisons are a constant reminder of its crimes and human rights abuses," he said.

Finally, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called on Washington to immediately close this prison and all other secret prisons in the rest of the world, stop arbitrary detentions, and compensate the victims.

Wang made these statements while commenting on a communiqué issued by a group of independent experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council, which condemned the US prison at the Guantanamo naval base, opened in the territory illegally occupied by the United States in eastern Cuba.