WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four British former inmates of the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay sued Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and others on Wednesday saying they were tortured in violation of U.S. and international law.

The four are seeking $10 million in damages but primarily want Rumsfeld and other defendants to be held accountable for their actions, said Eric Lewis, the lead lawyer in the case.

"This is a case about preserving an American ideal -- the rule of law," Lewis said at a news conference. "It is un-American to torture people. It is un-American to hold people indefinitely without access to counsel, courts or family. It is un-American to flout international treaty obligations."

The plaintiffs are Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal and Rhuhel Ahmed, all of Tipton, England, and Jamal al-Harith of Manchester. Al-Harith was picked up in Pakistan and the other three in Afghanistan after the 2001 U.S. Afghanistan invasion.

The federal court suit alleges they faced repeated beatings, death threats, interrogation at gunpoint, forced nakedness and menacing with unmuzzled dogs, among other mistreatment, during more than two years at the Guantanamo Bay center in Cuba.

The suit denies that the four belonged to any terrorist group or took up arms against the United States.

In response to the suit, Maj. Michael Shavers, a Pentagon spokesman, said the four were captured "fighting illegally for al Qaeda" and were "properly classified as enemy combatants," a designation that falls short of prisoner of war status.

"There is no basis in U.S. law to pay claims to those captured and detained as a result of combat activities," Shavers said.

The Pentagon previously has said Guantanamo prisoners were not entitled to the rights provided by the Geneva Conventions.

Shavers declined to respond to specific allegations of abuse contained in the lawsuit. Asked if the men had been tortured, Shavers said, "The allegations that they made are false. I'm not going to go point by point."

Shavers said U.S. policy is to treat all detainees and conduct all interrogations in a manner "consistent with all U.S. legal obligations, and, in particular, with legal obligations prohibiting torture."

The Bush administration has had several legal setbacks in its policy of detaining suspects, including those at Guantanamo, without charges and without legal representation.

The latest suit charges the Defense Department chain of command authorized this treatment, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Conventions and other laws.

All four were released without charge in March 2004 and returned to England.

Besides Rumsfeld, the suit also names Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff; Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller, former commander at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base; Gen. James Hill, commander at U.S. Southern Command, as well as other named officials and up to 100 "John Does" who allegedly were "involved in the illegal torture of plaintiffs" at Guantanamo.

The United States holds about 550 non-U.S. citizens at the detention facility at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

© Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.

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