Guantanamo at 21: Advocates renew calls for closing US prison

Because the chaotic withdrawal of United States forces from Afghanistan in 2021, President Joe Biden and his high aides have repeatedly expressed a way of accomplishment that Washington isn’t at battle for the primary time in many years.

However not removed from US shores, nestled in a Cuban harbour, the Guantanamo Bay detention facility remains to be working as a remnant of the so-called “battle on terror” that began after the 9/11 assaults in 2001.

Wednesday marked the twenty first anniversary of the jail, referred to as Gitmo – an event that prompted renewed requires closing the centre. Detainees have detailed abuse inside the power and critics have stated fundamental due course of protections had been denied there.

“The ‘battle on terror’ won’t finish till Guantanamo is closed. So any declare that the battle is over is fake,” Lisa Hajjar, a sociology professor on the College of California, Santa Barbara, advised Al Jazeera.

Hajjar is the creator of the guide titled The Battle in Court docket: Contained in the Lengthy Struggle Towards Torture, printed final 12 months. She stated the jail’s lasting legacy is that the US authorities – “ostensibly a liberal political democracy” – denied the humanity of detainees within the identify of nationwide safety pursuits.

‘With out costs… with out humanity’

Former Guantanamo detainee Mansoor Adayfi stated the detention facility’s legacy will get worse with each passing 12 months.

“It symbolises oppression, injustice, lawlessness, abuse of energy and indefinite detention,” he advised Al Jazeera.

Adayfi spent 14 years within the jail, the place he stated he endured torture, humiliation and abuse. Initially from Yemen, he defined he was kidnapped in Afghanistan and handed over to US forces when he was 18. He was accused of being a a lot older al-Qaeda recruiter however has maintained his innocence.

Adayfi stated it was unlucky that the rights violations at Guantanamo are being dedicated by a strong nation that preaches democracy and freedom.

“They’re nonetheless preserving males imprisoned for 21 years with out rights, with out costs, with out trial, even with out humanity,” he stated.

The ability as soon as housed almost 800 detainees however now it holds 35 prisoners – all Muslim males – most of whom have by no means been charged with against the law, together with 20 who’ve been cleared for launch.

On Wednesday, almost 160 worldwide rights teams despatched a letter to Biden urging him to close down the power.

“Guantanamo continues to trigger escalating and profound injury to the ageing and more and more ailing males nonetheless detained indefinitely there, most with out cost and none having obtained a good trial. It has additionally devastated their households and communities,” the letter stated.

The teams, which embrace Oxfam America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, additionally alleged that the jail stokes “bigotry, stereotyping and stigma”. By exemplifying these social divisions, Guantanamo “dangers facilitating further rights violations”, the teams stated.

In a petition to Biden, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a nonprofit rights group, described the jail as a “world image of injustice, abuse and disrespect for the rule of legislation”.

“Guantanamo continues to impose huge prices to each our values and our assets. It’s gone time for this shameful episode in American historical past to be dropped at a detailed,” the assertion stated.

As a candidate, Biden stated he helps closing Guantanamo – a activity his Democratic predecessor, former President Barack Obama, failed to realize amid political opposition, regardless of issuing an government order on his second day in workplace calling for Guantanamo to be shuttered inside a 12 months.

Hajjar, the College of California professor, stated there isn’t a influential constituency in US politics advocating to close down the jail. With the nation going through home and worldwide crises, many US politicians have distanced themselves from the “battle on terror” and its implications, she stated.

Hajjar additionally identified that the media has devoted little protection to the jail in recent times. Protecting Guantanamo correctly, she argued, would require acknowledging that it has been a “nationwide shame” and inspecting what went mistaken since its founding. She added that the authorized points surrounding the jail are complicated to clarify.

“So due to that, there’s not numerous style within the mainstream media for masking it,” she stated.

‘Uncertainty’

The jail, positioned at a US navy base in Cuba, operates in an alternate authorized system led by navy commissions that don’t assure the identical rights conventional US courts do. The ACLU has questioned whether or not detainees can obtain honest hearings earlier than the commissions, given their “looser evidentiary requirements”.

The group has additionally identified that detainees can not use the authorized system there to hunt damages for any torture they sustained, whether or not on the jail itself or secret amenities run by the Central Intelligence Company, referred to as “black websites”.

In a petition to the White Home on Wednesday, Amnesty Worldwide USA referred to as the jail a “evident, longstanding stain on the human rights document of the US”.

Adayfi, the previous detainee, stated justice for these imprisoned in Guantanamo begins by closing the power. He additionally referred to as for an apology and accountability from US officers for crimes dedicated there.

In 2016, a US overview board deemed Adayfi match for launch, although he had by no means been charged with against the law.

The ex-Guantanamo inmate now creates artwork impressed by his experiences. He detailed his story within the memoir, Don’t Neglect Us Right here: Misplaced and Discovered at Guantanamo.

Following his launch, Adayfi was despatched by the US authorities to Serbia, the place he stays in the present day. However his struggles proceed. He advised Al Jazeera that almost all former Guantanamo detainees stay “in limbo” with out authorized standing of their host international locations, unable to work, journey and even have regular social relations with others.

“It’s actually arduous. If you’re being launched from Guantanamo, there isn’t a form of rehabilitation programme that lets you transfer on with their life – [with] household, mates, a secure job. Uncertainty is likely one of the worst emotions,” Adayfi stated.