The ‘eternal prisoners’ of Guantναnamo

20 years later there is no reason to justify the existence of “eternal prisoners” in the infamous camp in Cuba without indictment and trial. So why does it not close?

A typical account of Guantναnamo, 20 years after the first imprisonments of alleged terrorists, is as follows: Mohamed Ould Slahi was imprisoned for 14 years in a US camp in Cuba. They were tortured for 70 days, interrogated for 3 years 18 hours a day. Slahi, who lived in Germany before his imprisonment, was suspected of playing a key role in the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and of being involved in the 9/11 attacks, but no evidence was ever found. During his 14 years in Guantanamo Bay, he was not tried or convicted. Eventually the 50-year-old Moorish man was released, but was not compensated for so many lost years. The Slahi case still concerns Nancy Hollander’s lawyer. Some time ago his case became a movie.

Slahi’s “crime” was that he was in a terrorist camp in Afghanistan and that he received a phone call from Osama bin Laden’s satellite phone. Of course, all this casts a shadow on the Slahi, but it is not enough to prosecute. “With Guantanamo, the United States has become a country that does not respect the principles of the rule of law,” Hollande said, referring to a “catastrophic situation.” This applies not only to the 13 detainees who are still being held there without charge while they should have been released a long time ago, but also to the alleged perpetrators of 9/11, the so-called “perpetual detainees” who are still awaiting trial for 20 years. after the terrorist attacks.

Complete lack of any concept of law

“The lack of rule of law is not accidental. It was a target of the then’s George W. Bush administration,” said Amnesty International’s Daphne Eviathar, who is well acquainted with the situation in the US camp in Cuba. the US legal system “. The organization’s investigation into the situation at Guantναnamo denounces widespread human rights violations. Among them are indefinite imprisonment, indictment and torture of detainees. Of course, there is no openly available information on this, but Eviatar cites various investigations, including by the US Senate Secret Service, into the brutal torture of dozens of men at Guantanamo. The US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has been around for over 100 years. It was not until January 2002, a few months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, that it expanded and turned into an incarceration camp. The name Guantanamo has since become synonymous with human rights abuses. Anthony Natale, one of the advocates of the alleged al-Qaeda terrorist Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, speaks openly about his frustration. “We have abandoned everything that makes this country a free country, with equal rights for all.”

Anyone who wants to get a picture of Guantanamo must overcome many obstacles. The first is Cuban airspace, through which weekly charter flights from Washington must not pass. From above one can see the whole picture. At the foot of a bare mountain range is the bay, to the west is the airport, to the east is the naval base, the “Camp Justice” military court and the prison camp. The permit is issued after several weeks of security checks, shortly before the trip one must sign a text with “basic rules”. It describes what awaits a journalist, that is, no freedom of movement and above all no freedom of the press. No one can go outside the prison, and all the information leaked from inside is strictly confidential, which leads the detainees’ lawyers to despair. Nancy Hollande has been fighting for justice for seven years to secure the publication of the “Guantanamo Diary” for Mohamed’s client, Old Slahi.

Drawings upon drawings

January 11 is a day dominated by the question, why does the camp continue to exist despite the obvious violations of human rights and the rule of law, and especially after the end of the war on terror sealed by the withdrawal of all Western troops from Afghanistan. There is no answer, just a reference to the drawings to close give a picture. The first coincides with the end of President George W. Bush’s term. Barack Obama has repeatedly promised to close it, but lost a majority in Congress to Republicans who passed a law banning anyone detained at Guantanamo Bay from entering the United States for any reason. “With this law, the transfer of prisoners to the American mainland has become legally impossible,” said Nancy Hollander. President Trump changed gears and announced that Guantanamo would remain in the future because “it continues to protect against terrorist attacks and the transfer of detainees to the United States is dangerous.” Opponents of Guantanamo, on the other hand, argue that its existence alone is a reason for the radicalization of young Muslims. The next turning point in Guantναnamo’s policy came during the presidency of Joe Biden, who as soon as he took office announced through the press that he planned to close it during his presidency.

Of course, Biden has bigger problems in his country with the financial infrastructure packages than the camp at Guantanamo. What the future will bring is unclear. Part of the detainees could be released, another could return to their country of origin through agreements. Daphne Eviatar demands the immediate release of all prisoners. “We can not just keep them for 20 years without an indictment, without a trial, because supposedly there is not enough evidence against them, but to claim that in some way they are still dangerous.” But the question of Guantanamo’s fate can no longer be answered with rational arguments. Like so many other things in the US, it has become a game of politics, in the shadow of which the “eternal prisoners” have been waiting for their trial for 20 years.

Oliver Salet

Edited by: Irini Anastassopoulou

Source: Deutsche Welle