The US State Department has said there are no plans, at present, to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.
The British Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, has called for the camp to be shut down, saying it has become a symbol of injustice.
Lord Goldsmith said that although some limitation of rights was acceptable to ensure collective security, there could be no compromise on the principle of a fair trial.
However, the US Department of State Spokesman, Sean McCormack, said the facility was necessary in the war against terror.
For four years, some 500 detainees have been held at Guantanamo but only ten have been formally charged as terrorists.
Most were captured after the US-led war in Afghanistan in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States.
No explicit call from Blair
British Prime Minister Tony Blair stopped short of making an explicit call for the camp's closure when he spoke in London recently.
He said he hoped a judicial process could be put in place which would allow the camp to close.
Mr Blair repeated his opinion that the camp was an 'anomaly', but said it was important to remember the context in which the camp was set up, after the US suffered its worst terrorist atrocity.
Kate Allen, who heads the British branch of Amnesty International, said the real test was whether the UK government was prepared to put serious pressure on the US to see that the camp was closed and that all prisoners are brought before proper courts.
