Wednesday, January 11, 2012

10 Years of Human Rights Violations at Guantánamo Bay

Today, 11 January 2012, marks the 10th anniversary of the first detainees being transferred to the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay.

The detention facility has, since, been associated with the most shocking human rights abuses- including arbitrary detention, secret detention, torture and unfair trials.

This has gone on far too long now!

Today, there are still more than 150 detainees being held at Guantánamo Bay, the majority of which are in indefinite detention without charge or trial.

Those who have been charged face unfair trial by military commission and some can face the death penalty if convicted.

The government claims that even those found not guilty can be returned to indefinite detention.

There has, essentially, been no accountability, or redress, for the human rights violations to which they, and other detainees, have been subjected.

The Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is surely a curse for the world.

It is high time this 'nonsense' stopped at Guantánamo Bay.

As US President, Barack Obama, prepares his State of the Union address on 24 January, he must not forget to include something about the emancipation of the people at Guantánamo Bay.

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