human rights
UN: Treatment of Guantánamo inmates remains ‘cruel’
More than two decades after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 34 prisoners are still in Guantánamo. photo
© Shane T. McCoy/epa/dpa
The prison camp was originally set up to hold suspected terrorists without trial – and it still exists today. The suffering of the prisoners is “deep and lasting,” according to the UN.
According to a UN special rapporteur, the treatment of the remaining inmates in the US prison camp at Guantánamo in Cuba is still “cruel, inhuman and degrading”.
“I have observed that after two decades of imprisonment, the suffering of the detainees is deep and enduring,” said Fionnuala Ni Aolain, UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in Counter-Terrorism. She made the statement yesterday as she presented her report to journalists in New York and called for the infamous camp to be shut down.
Earlier, Ni Aolain was the first UN special rapporteur to visit the detention center, with official US approval. She thanked the United States for the permission and stressed that she was given full access. They also got “significant improvements” compared to previous status reports.
In February, the US Department of Defense said that more than two decades after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 34 prisoners are still being held in the Cuban prison camp. It was built after the terrorist attacks during the administration of then Republican President George W. Bush to hold suspected Islamist terrorists without trial.
Almost 800 people were detained at one point in the camp, which is located at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay. Human rights organizations have long been demanding the closure – after the presentation of the UN report, Amnesty International reiterated this demand.