2008 Woodie Awards
Amnesty International calls for closure of Guantanamo Bay
Bryan Cahall
Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: World
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Conditions are worsening for U.S. prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay military camp, according to an Amnesty International report.
The report claims that a majority of the 385 inmates are now being held in solitary confinement for up to 22 hours a day, conditions that are "pushing people to the edge."
Amnesty International called for the immediate closure of the prison camp and the suspension of "unfair" military commission trials.
"While the United States has an obligation to protect its citizens ... that does not relieve the United States from its responsibilities to comply with human rights," the report said.
Navy Commander Henry Gordon said to Al-Jazeera that Guantanamo is reserved for "the most egregious terror suspects." However, only 10 of the prisoners have been charged with a crime.
Many of the inmates have been held five years or more. None has yet been able to challenge his or her detention in a U.S. civil court, according to BBC News.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined, by a four-to-three margin and two Justices writing separate opinions, to hear the urgent appeal of 45 of the detainees, who sought to challenge the constitutionality of their open-ended confinement without charge.
The detainees had submitted a petition for habeas corpus, which protects individuals from unlawful confinement and arbitrary state power.
Justices John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy wrote a separate opinion "respecting the denial" that required of the inmates "the exhaustion of available remedies as a precondition to accepting jurisdiction over applications for the writ of habeas corpus."
The ruling upholds a previous decision by a federal appeals court on a provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which places those labeled "enemy combatants" outside the jurisdiction of U.S. civil courts.
The act also created the military tribunals used to determine the status of detainees. If determined to be "enemy combatants," detainees are subsequently subject to a military court to decide a verdict.
The report claims that a majority of the 385 inmates are now being held in solitary confinement for up to 22 hours a day, conditions that are "pushing people to the edge."
Amnesty International called for the immediate closure of the prison camp and the suspension of "unfair" military commission trials.
"While the United States has an obligation to protect its citizens ... that does not relieve the United States from its responsibilities to comply with human rights," the report said.
Navy Commander Henry Gordon said to Al-Jazeera that Guantanamo is reserved for "the most egregious terror suspects." However, only 10 of the prisoners have been charged with a crime.
Many of the inmates have been held five years or more. None has yet been able to challenge his or her detention in a U.S. civil court, according to BBC News.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined, by a four-to-three margin and two Justices writing separate opinions, to hear the urgent appeal of 45 of the detainees, who sought to challenge the constitutionality of their open-ended confinement without charge.
The detainees had submitted a petition for habeas corpus, which protects individuals from unlawful confinement and arbitrary state power.
Justices John Paul Stevens and Anthony Kennedy wrote a separate opinion "respecting the denial" that required of the inmates "the exhaustion of available remedies as a precondition to accepting jurisdiction over applications for the writ of habeas corpus."
The ruling upholds a previous decision by a federal appeals court on a provision of the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which places those labeled "enemy combatants" outside the jurisdiction of U.S. civil courts.
The act also created the military tribunals used to determine the status of detainees. If determined to be "enemy combatants," detainees are subsequently subject to a military court to decide a verdict.
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