Geneva ? U.N. human rights experts Thursday welcomed growing international demands for the United States to close its prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and urged Washington to set a timetable for shutting it.

Five specialists on subjects from torture to arbitrary detention said they had “grave concerns” about Guantanamo, which they said held more than 450 prisoners “in breach of international human rights law.”

The experts said they were encouraged by a U.S. Supreme Court decision last month that said President Bush’s plan to try Guantanamo detainees before military tribunals violates U.S. and international law, and they welcomed “recent indications from the highest levels of the United States government of their wish to close Guantanamo Bay as soon as possible.”