Washington, DC, the US – On the twentieth anniversary of Guantanamo Bay, advocates say the US navy detention facility represents 20 years of injustice – and should be shut down.
Established at an American navy base in Cuba in 2002 by the administration of President George W Bush, the jail was meant to deprive detainees from the post-9/11 “conflict on terror” of the constitutional rights they’d take pleasure in on US soil.
Its location – in an American-owned enclave of the Caribbean island – muddied the waters on the applicability of worldwide legislation and guidelines of conflict on the therapy of prisoners. And over time, the jail earned a fame as a spot of abuse and injustice exterior the rule of legislation.
US President Joe Biden has promised to shut the ability, however experiences on the development of a brand new, secret courtroom at Guantanamo have exacerbated issues that the administration is probably not critical about shutting it down. There was just one switch out of the jail over the previous yr.
The ability that after housed practically 800 detainees now holds 39 prisoners, with 13 already cleared for switch. Most have been held with out formal expenses.
Right here, Al Jazeera speaks with human and civil rights advocates on the legacy of Guantanamo:
Mansoor Adayfi, former inmate: ’20 years of injustice, torture, abuse’
Mansoor Adayfi is talking from private expertise when he says Guantanamo represents “20 years of injustice, torture, abuse, lawlessness and oppression”.
Adayfi spent greater than 14 years on the jail, the place he says he endured torture, humiliation and abuse. A Yemeni native, Adayfi was conducting analysis in Afghanistan when – on the age of 18 – he was kidnapped by Afghan fighters and handed to the CIA on allegations that he was a a lot older recruiter for al-Qaeda.
Adayfi maintained his innocence all through the ordeal, which he describes as dehumanising, and was launched in 2016 to Serbia, the place he continues to advocate for closing down Guantanamo and guaranteeing justice for the detainees.
“Guantanamo is likely one of the largest human rights violations of the twenty first century,” Adayfi, who final yr launched a memoir titled Don’t Overlook Us Right here: Misplaced and Discovered at Guantanamo, advised Al Jazeera in a telephone interview. “And in addition it’s [abusive] to the American justice system, to the American folks. Guantanamo hasn’t achieved any justice for anybody – not for the 9/11 victims, not for Individuals, not for the detainees.”
For his personal expertise with torture and wrongful detention, Adayfi mentioned the trail to justice would start with closing Guantanamo and ending the secrecy round abuses and authorized proceedings that befell there.
“Justice means reparation, means acknowledgement, means apologising,” he mentioned.
Hina Shamsi, ACLU: Guantanamo a ‘image of American injustice’
Hina Shamsi, director of the Nationwide Safety Undertaking on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a outstanding critic of the civil rights violations that accompanied the “conflict on terror“, referred to as the Guantanamo Bay jail a “authorized, ethical and moral failure”.
“It’s a international image of American injustice, torture and disrespect for the rule of legislation,” Shamsi advised Al Jazeera by way of e mail, including that Biden should be held accountable to his marketing campaign promise to shut down Guantanamo.
“Prisoners who’re indefinitely detained with out cost should be transferred, beginning with those that have been cleared for switch for years. The Biden administration must resolve the damaged and unconstitutional navy commissions by pursuing plea agreements that might account for defendants’ torture by our authorities whereas offering a measure of transparency and justice, as 9/11 members of the family have urged,” she mentioned.
“If President Biden is critical about upholding human rights, racial fairness, and justice, he must take motion by lastly closing Guantanamo.”
Daphne Eviatar, Amnesty Worldwide USA: Guantanamo’s legacy is ‘Islamophobia and impunity for torture’
Daphne Eviatar, director of the Safety with Human Rights Program at Amnesty Worldwide USA, mentioned the truth that Guantanamo has been open for 20 years is “itself a really disturbing legacy”.
“Till the US is keen to close the jail down, switch detainees to locations the place their human rights might be revered, and acknowledge and supply reparations for the abuses that occurred at Guantanamo, the legacy of the US jail at Guantanamo Bay will proceed to be one among flagrant human rights abuses, racism and Islamophobia and impunity for torture,” Eviatar advised Al Jazeera in an e mail.
Eviatar mentioned the way in which ahead to close down the jail is “clear” and “not significantly troublesome” – liberating detainees cleared for launch, making an attempt these charged with “internationally cognizable crimes” in regularly-constituted US federal courts, and transferring inmates who haven’t been charged to different international locations the place they’d not face rights abuses.
“President Biden has no excuse for not taking that path,” she mentioned.
Yumna Rizvi, Heart for Victims of Torture: ‘Hypocrisy and vanity’
Yumna Rizvi, coverage analyst on the Heart for Victims of Torture, an advocacy group for torture survivors, together with Guantanamo detainees, mentioned the jail’s legacy is “darkish and haunting”.
“Most of the Muslim males detained behind its bars have been subjected to unspeakable human rights violations by the US and have suffered irreparable harm,” Rizvi advised Al Jazeera in an e mail.
“Guantanamo highlights the hypocrisy and vanity of the U.S, which has intentionally turned its again on the rule of legislation, creating a pretend authorized system the place impunity, injustice, and disrespect for human rights reign.”
Robert McCaw, CAIR: A jail designed to disclaim Muslim suspects their rights
Robert McCaw, authorities affairs director on the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights group, mentioned the jail highlights the anti-Muslim bias of US authorities insurance policies within the post-9/11 period.
“The best safety jail that the US authorities maintains is in Guantanamo. And it’s designed to solely home Muslim males which can be being held with out cost on the suspicion of supporting terrorism,” McCaw advised Al Jazeera.
“The psychological influence of getting such a jail designed to detain Muslim males indefinitely and deny them their rights exhibits the standing of Muslims within the US authorized system, and the way far the federal government is keen to go to deal with Muslims in US custody,” McCaw mentioned. “And so, so long as this jail stays, it’s not solely a stain on our nation’s human rights report however a sworn statement to the completely different therapy that Muslim suspects have within the US judicial system.”