UN Report on Guantanamo Criticizes US Human Rights Abuses and Calls for an Apology, Reparations and Demands is Closure

[mastermind]

A United Nations expert has called on the United States to apologise for the torture of Guantanamo Bay prison inmates, to ensure accountability for abuses, and to close down the infamous US-run detention facility in Cuba.

In a report released on Monday, UN Special Rapporteur Fionnuala Ni Aolain thanked the administration of US President Joe Biden for allowing her to access the facility earlier this year but stressed the need to remedy violations against detainees.

Ni Aolain said the torture of detainees at secret locations known as black sites and subsequently at Guantanamo is the “single most significant barrier” to ensuring justice for the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

“The importance of apology and guarantees of non-repetition to both the victims of terrorism and the victims of torture betrayed by these practices will be no less pressing in the years ahead,” the report read.

The Guantanamo detention facility opened in 2002 under US President George W Bush to house detainees captured during the so-called “war on terror” after al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, DC on September 11, 2001.

The prison once housed nearly 800 detainees. Its inmate population is now down to 30, more than half of whom – 16 detainees – have been declared eligible for release by US authorities.

Located at a US military base in Cuba, the prison operates under a system of military commissions that does not guarantee the same rights as traditional US courts.

Rights groups have long denounced rights violations at Guantanamo – including forced feedings and beatings of detainees, and a lack of due process – and demanded its closure.

Ni Aolain’s report on Monday said the abuses are ongoing at the prison facility, highlighting “structural shortcomings and systematic arbitrariness including in training, operating procedures, and the fulfillment of detainees’ rights to health care, family council and justice”.

For example, inmates are called by a serial number, not their names – a policy that Ni Aolain said “undermines each detainee’s self-worth and dignity, particularly in the lived context of profound deprivation of liberty, communication, and relationship with the outside world”.

Moreover, Ni Aolain underscored the “near-constant surveillance, forced cell extractions, undue use of restraints” and solitary confinement that she said continue to be used at Guantanamo.

Speaking to reporters on Monday afternoon, Ni Aolain said every inmate she met lives with the “unrelenting harms” caused by their systematic “rendition, torture and arbitrary detention”.

“I observed that after two decades of custody, the suffering of those detained is profound, and it’s ongoing,” she said.

Ni Aolain said she was the first UN special rapporteur to be granted access to Guantanamo to investigate conditions at the facility – a fact she credited to the administration of US President Joe Biden.

“It is this administration who early on in my tenure – through a process of discussion and engagement – enabled the visit,” she said.

Amnesty International said Monday’s “scathing” report highlights the need to shut down the detention facility.

“It is well past time to demand the closure of the prison, accountability from US officials, and reparations for the torture and other ill-treatment that the detainees have suffered at the hands of the US government,” the group’s secretary general, Agnes Callamard, said in a statement.

The Biden administration, which argues it is working to reduce the number of inmates at the prison to eventually close it, pushed back against some of Ni Aolain’s findings while acknowledging her recommendations.

“We are committed to providing safe and humane treatment for detainees at Guantanamo in full accordance with international and US domestic law,” Michele Taylor, US ambassador to the UN Human Rights Council, said in a statement released alongside the report.

“Detainees live communally and prepare meals together; receive specialized medical and psychiatric care; are given full access to legal counsel; and communicate regularly with family members.”

Earlier on Monday, Biden released a statement to recognise International Day in Support of Victims of Torture in which he condemned all “forms of inhumane treatment” and pledged that the US would support torture survivors as they seek justice.

“Torture is prohibited everywhere and at all times. It is illegal, immoral, and a stain on our collective conscience,” Biden said.

UN expert urges US to apologise for Guantanamo abuses

Special rapporteur calls for accountability for past abuses and end to ongoing ‘structural shortcomings’ at US prison.

www.aljazeera.com

 

[mastermind]

Dr. Aolin's press conference on the report:

Press Conference: The UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin

Fionnuala Ní Aoláin will brief reporters on her technical visit to the United States and the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

media.un.org

 

[Pressure]

Ni Aolain said the torture of detainees at secret locations known as black sites and subsequently at Guantanamo is the “single most significant barrier” to ensuring justice for the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

As someone who is close to a family whose father was heading to the tower for a meeting when 9/11 occurred and lost numerous family friends , I can assure you they don't believe this.

 

[ORDER_66]

u.s. govt aint closing shyt....

 

[Koapa]

If the US gives reparations to these fukks then Black Americans should do a strategic boycott that tank the stock market.

 

[88m3]

Good job, Joe!

 

[Professor Emeritus]

As someone who is close to a family whose father was heading to the tower for a meeting when 9/11 occurred and lost numerous family friends , I can assure you they don't believe this.

So you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who has an opinion, which is relevant to the reality of the situation how?

It's no secret that the US government has refused to take numerous Guantanamo-related cases to trial explicitly because they believe the shyt they did in Guantanamo would invalidate the evidence collected in a court of law.

 

[Pressure]

So you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who has an opinion, which is relevant to the reality of the situation how?

It's no secret that the US government has refused to take numerous Guantanamo-related cases to trial explicitly because they believe the shyt they did in Guantanamo would invalidate the evidence collected in a court of law.

You're attempting to talk past me to get your jollies off and it's unnecessary. We're talking about my ex fiance's father.

We can agree that shutting down gitmo is the right thing to do. We can also agree it's good to speak out on the torture that took place. We can also agree that there are prisoners there who deserve restitution.

And we can do all of that without falsely claiming that's what's required for victims of 9/11 to receive justice.

 

[mastermind]

And we can do all of that without falsely claiming that's what's required for victims of 9/11 to receive justice.

These people don’t count?

Its inmate population is now down to 30, more than half of whom – 16 detainees – have been declared eligible for release by US authorities.

If we want to talk about justice for 9/11 families, the American government has to look at itself. Guantanamo isn’t providing any type of justice.

 

[Professor Emeritus]

You're attempting to talk past me to get your jollies off and it's unnecessary. We're talking about my ex fiance's father.

Your ex-fiance's father knows family members of victims of 9/11, which is relevant to the accuracy of the Special Rapporteur's statement how? I think it's quite likely that she knows a great deal more of the legal situation at Guantanamo than the families themselves do, and far more than someone who is friends with friends of the families.

We can agree that shutting down gitmo is the right thing to do. We can also agree it's good to speak out on the torture that took place. We can also agree that there are prisoners there who deserve restitution.

And we can do all of that without falsely claiming that's what's required for victims of 9/11 to receive justice.

Can you justify your disagreement, rather than just saying, "I disagree!" repeatedly without explanation? What is the false claim you're referring to?

It's my understanding that one of the primary reasons that many of the al Queda associates captured by the USA have never been put on trial was because the torture and other methods used at black sites and Gitmo would lead to evidence against those people being thrown out in court. And/or the USA didn't want the full extent of its actions in those sites to come out during trial. This is a widely held belief:

If you travel to Guantánamo, interview attorneys for its prisoners, read its military court transcripts, and review unclassified government documents, this becomes clear: Torture is a major reason there has still been no trial — and may never be one — for alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other Guantánamo prisoners.

It's an impediment to trial partly because evidence obtained through torture is rarely admissible in court, potentially weakening prosecution efforts. In addition, information that remains secret, such as the identities of the torturers, could become public at trial, and "the CIA absolutely does not want that to happen," said Rick Kammen, the former lead defense attorney for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who is charged with orchestrating the October 2000 USS Cole naval warship bombing and has been held at Guantánamo for 13 years.

That appeared to me to be the point that Special Rapporteur Aolain was making, and she is a highly respected academic lawyer of international law. I do not know enough about the American government's decision-making process to know whether that's true or not, but it's the interpretation I keep hearing from people who know more about the cases than myself. What more do you know that is relevant?

 

[88m3]

Are you guys going to thank Joe Biden or not?

 

[88m3]

@Rhakim It could've been subterfuge to cover for what you're saying(idk if Republicans are capable in this sense) or just a political wedge but they didn't want them imprisoned on US soil.

The prison once housed nearly 800 detainees. Its inmate population is now down to 30, more than half of whom – 16 detainees – have been declared eligible for release by US authorities.

this is commendable

 

[Pressure]

If we want to talk about justice for 9/11 families, the American government has to look at itself. Guantanamo isn’t providing any type of justice.

No, this is terrible logic.

Your ex-fiance's father knows family members of victims of 9/11, which is relevant to the accuracy of the Special Rapporteur's statement how? I think it's quite likely that she knows a great deal more of the legal situation at Guantanamo than the families themselves do, and far more than someone who is friends with friends of the families.

But the comment isn't about the legal situation. It's merely that restitution for gitmo prisoners has absolutely nothing to do with provid8ng justice to those who lost their lives or were affected by 9/11.

Your ex-fiance's father knows family members of victims of 9/11, which is relevant to the accuracy of the Special Rapporteur's statement how? I think it's quite likely that she knows a great deal more of the legal situation at Guantanamo than the families themselves do, and far more than someone who is friends with friends of the families.








Can you justify your disagreement, rather than just saying, "I disagree!" repeatedly without explanation? What is the false claim you're referring to?

It's my understanding that one of the primary reasons that many of the al Queda associates captured by the USA have never been put on trial was because the torture and other methods used at black sites and Gitmo would lead to evidence against those people being thrown out in court. And/or the USA didn't want the full extent of its actions in those sites to come out during trial. This is a widely held belief:








That appeared to me to be the point that Special Rapporteur Aolain was making, and she is a highly respected academic lawyer of international law. I do not know enough about the American government's decision-making process to know whether that's true or not, but it's the interpretation I keep hearing from people who know more about the cases than myself. What more do you know that is relevant?

So you agree. The points can be made without trying to use some emotional argument that has no relevance and isn't true.

 

[Pressure]

Are you guys going to thank Joe Biden or not?

No, it's the 4th of July and they're using this holiday to discuss their hate for America.

 

[mastermind]

No, this is terrible logic.

The American Government has to look at itself.

If we can't get convictions for people because of the torture program, then that's a failure on the government. And half the people currently there are free to go, yet still there. That is a failure on the government. We want justice, and not whatever the fukk happened and is happening at Guantanamo Bay.