Guantanamo at 23: What’s next for the ‘lawless’ detention center? | Human Rights Issues

Washington, DC – The detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, turns 23 on Saturday.

For Mansoor Adayfi, a former inmate of the prison, this day marks 23 years of “injustice, lawlessness, abuse of power, torture and endless imprisonment”.

Only 15 prisoners remain at the US military prison, known as Gitmo, which once held 800 Muslim men – a dwindling number that gives advocates hope that the facility will eventually be closed, turning a page on the dark chapter of history it represents. .

But Adayfi, who now serves as the Guantanamo Project coordinator for the advocacy group CAGE International, says closing Gitmo really means bringing justice to current and former detainees.

“The United States must admit its wrongdoing, it must issue an official apology to the dead, to the survivors,” Adayfi told Al Jazeera. “There must be compensation, compensation and accountability.”

Guantanamo was opened in 2002 to house prisoners in the so-called “war on terror”, in response to the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the US.

Prisoners have been arrested around the world on suspicion of collaborating with al-Qaeda and other groups. Many endured horrific torture in secret facilities, known as black camps, before being transferred to Guantanamo.

At Gitmo, prisoners had few legal rights. Even those who have been cleared for release through Guantanamo’s alternative justice system, known as military commissions, remain detained for years with no way to challenge their detention.

Therefore, the prison has become synonymous with the worst torture of the US government in the post-9/11 era.

In recent weeks, the administration of outgoing President Joe Biden has accelerated the release of prisoners from Guantanamo, before the end of his term on January 20.

On Monday, the US government released 11 Yemeni prisoners and resettled them in Oman. Last month two prisoners were transferred to Tunisia and Kenya.

‘Crazy’

Daphne Eviatar, director of the Security for Human Rights (SWHR) program at Amnesty International USA, said closing the facility is possible.

He said the remaining prisoners could be transferred to other countries or to the US, where they would go through the American justice system.

Congress banned in 2015 the transfer of Gitmo detainees to US soil. But Eviatar believes the White House can work with lawmakers to repeal the law, especially since there are so few inmates left at the facility.

“It’s a symbol of lawlessness, of Islamophobia,” Eviatar said of Guantanamo.

“It is a complete violation of human rights. The United States, which has imprisoned so many people for so long without rights, without charge or trial, is appalling. And the fact that it’s still going on today, 23 years later, is crazy.”

Barack Obama made closing prisons one of his top promises when he ran for president in 2008, but after taking office, his plans faced stiff opposition from Republicans. Towards the end of his second term, Obama expressed regret for failing to close the facility during his administration.

Of the 15 remaining Gitmo prisoners, three are eligible for release, according to the Pentagon. The other three may go before the Guantanamo Bay Periodic Review Board, which assesses whether detainees are safe for extradition.

“We still hope that President Biden can release more prisoners before he leaves office,” Eviatar told Al Jazeera.

Although President-elect Donald Trump has promised to keep the prison open, Eviatar said he may view the facility as dysfunctional.

Plea deals

But the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a Quaker social justice advocacy group, stressed the urgency for Biden to act before Trump takes office.

“With President-elect Trump strongly opposed to closing Guantanamo, the need for President Biden to close the prison is more urgent than ever,” Devra Baxter, FCNL’s military and human rights program assistant, said in a statement.

“Closing Guantanamo will only happen with the transfer of the last three men who have not yet been charged with crimes and the completion of the charges against them.”

However, rather than finalizing the prisoner’s plea deals, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sought to cut the plea deals of the three 9/11 suspects, which were reached with military prosecutors to give the prisoners death sentences, to plead guilty.

Courts are now evaluating the validity of the agreements and Austin’s veto against them.

Eviatar said Austin’s push for plea deals amounts to political meddling.

“It is a strange situation. I don’t understand why the Biden administration, who says they want to close Guantanamo, then have the secretary of defense come in and stop plea deals. It makes no sense.”

CAGE’s Adayfi said the conflict over plea agreements shows that there is no effective justice system in Guantanamo.

“It’s a big joke,” he said. “There is no justice in Guantanamo. There is no law. Nothing at all. It is one of the biggest human rights violations of the 21st century.”

Adayfi added that the US can have its views on freedom, democracy and human rights or Guantanamo, but not both.

“I believe they have Guantanamo,” he said.