Amnesty Wants Bay Prison Closed

11/02/2006| IslamWeb

An international human rights group has called on the US to take responsibility for the suffering of thousands of relatives of Guantanamo Bay detainees, as well as the detainees themselves. It has also renewed calls for the controversial prison to be shut down and for inmates to be either released or given a fair trial.

Amnesty International (AI) delivered the message in a report called Guantanamo: Lives Torn Apart - The Impact of Indefinite Detention on Detainees and Their Families.

It uses the example of Bahraini detainees to highlight the emotional stress being placed on prisoners' families and contains testimonies of several former detainees and their relatives.

The report cites examples of how over the past few years relatives of detainees, notably from Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, had been given false promises and shattered hopes regarding the return of their loved ones.

"When three of the six Bahraini detainees were finally returned in November 2005, the families did not know until the very last minute which of the men were returning - leaving all in a state of uncertainty culminating in joy for some, despair for others," says the report.

The three detainees released in November were Adel Kamel Hajee, Abdulla Al Nuaimi and Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa.

However, the three Bahrainis still being detained are Essa Al Murbati, Salah Abdul Rasool Al Blooshi and Juma Al Dossary.

The report details how some of the 500 detainees of around 35 nationalities had children they had never met and had not been informed that their mother or father had died since their imprisonment.

It adds that in some cases dependents of detainees had suffered financial hardship and severe psychological distress.

Furthermore, it claimed that some relatives had been hospitalised for problems thought to be directly linked to the Guantanamo Bay detentions.

The report also draws attention to the alleged ill treatment of several detainees and highlights the plight of Al Dossary, who has repeatedly tired to commit suicide.

It details abuse including beatings, rape, death threats, prolonged isolation, sexual assaults and other incidents.

In light of the alleged suffering of detainees and their relatives over the past four years, AI is calling again for the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay to be closed.

It wants all those held to be released or given fair trial according to international law and without recourse to the death penalty on US mainland.

"After four years, the US administration must start listening," says the report.

"Guantanamo is not only just a legal black hole, it is a moral disgrace and for those affected, it is an emotional abyss.

"The Guantanamo detentions must not be allowed to continue for a fifth year - the hundreds of men held and thousands of their family members affected around the world must finally be afforded the justice to which they are entitled."

LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

The following is the list of recommendations made by Amnesty International to US authorities:

* Release all the Guantanamo detainees unless they are to be given fair trials in US Courts in accordance with international law and without recourse to the death penalty

* Close the Guantanamo detention facility and open up all US 'war on terror' detention facilities to external independent scrutiny

* Officially and publicly condemn torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and order that these practices cease, making clear that they are prohibited absolutely and will not be tolerated

* Promptly, impartially and effectively investigate all allegations of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in Guantanamo and in US custody elsewhere

* Ensure that anyone responsible for having committed, ordered or authorised torture or other ill-treatment be brought to justice in a fair trial according to international law

* Ensure that all the Guantanamo detainees are afforded appropriate medical care

* Ensure all the Guantanamo detainees are allowed adequate contact with their families

* Ensure that families of the detainees are kept fully informed of their legal status, health and well-being

* Set up an independent commission of inquiry into all aspects of the US's 'war on terror' detention policies and practices

* Provide the United Nations High Commission for Refugees with prompt and unhindered access to the nine men currently help in Camp Iguana and co-operate with the agency to finding a durable solution to the plight of these individuals that addresses their protection needs and takes into account their specific situation on a case-by-case basis

* Provide a full list of all those detained by the US as part of the 'war on terror' in Guantanamo and elsewhere

PHOTO CAPTION

An Afghan prisoner (R) hugs Abdul Salaam Zaeef, Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, after his release in Kabul, Afghanistan February 9, 2006. (REUTERS)

Gulf Daily News