Close Guantánamo symbol of injustice undreds of men of many different nationalities have national security. Access to lawyers is perceived as Hbeen transported to the USA’s offshore prison camp detrimental to the interrogation process. Access to the at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. At every stage of their ordeal, courts is seen as disruptive of military operations. their dignity, humanity and Arbitrary detention has been the result. “The United States Government will work to fundamental rights have advance human dignity in word and deed, been denied. Five years on, hundreds of men are still held in Guantánamo. None has been tried. None has appeared speaking out for freedom and against The first detainees were in court. All, in Amnesty International’s opinion, are violations of human rights.” flown from Afghanistan to unlawfully detained. Many have been tortured or ill- National Security Strategy of the USA, March 2002 Guantánamo in January 2002 treated, whether in Afghanistan or elsewhere prior to – hooded, shackled and tied their transfer to Guantánamo, or during their transfer, or down like cargo. They were the first of more than 750 as part of the interrogation process in the base, or just people of some 45 nationalities who would be taken to through the harshness of the Guantánamo regime – the base in this way, among them children as young as 13. isolating, indefinite and punitive. By association, their They have included people who were simply in the wrong families too have suffered the cruelty of this virtually place at the wrong time, dozens of whom were handed incommunicado island incarceration. over to the USA by Pakistani “I am dying here every day, mentally and or Afghan agents in return for Three days after the first transfers to Guantánamo, thousands of dollars. Amnesty International urged the USA to respect the physically... We have been ignored, locked up detainees’ fundamental human rights. USA: AI calls on the in the middle of the ocean for four years.” The US authorities have USA to end legal limbo of Guantánamo prisoners (AMR Guantánamo detainee Shaker Aamer, a Saudi Arabian branded the detainees as 51/009/2002) was the first of numerous documents national and UK resident, November 2005 loosely-defined “enemy published by the organization in the continuing combatants”in a global conflict. campaign to expose and end the human rights That they see the world as the “battlefield” is illustrated by violations associated with Guantánamo. the fact that Guantánamo’s detainees were picked up in places as far apart as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Amnesty International was among the first to call for Gambia, Indonesia, Mauritania, Thailand, the United Arab the closure of Guantánamo, a prison that symbolizes the Emirates and Zambia, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. US government’s manipulation of the law in its “war on terror”. However, closing Guantánamo would only be a The US authorities see “enemy combatants” as a first step and must not result in the transfer of human potential source of intelligence and a potential threat to rights violations elsewhere. Guantánamo is simply the tip 11 September – Nearly 3,000 11 January – The first detainees are April – Secretary Rumsfeld people are killed when four hijacked transferred to Guantánamo from authorizes interrogation techniques planes are crashed in the USA. US Afghanistan and are held in wire mesh including isolation, “environmental President George W. Bush declares a cages in Camp X-Ray. manipulation” and “sleep adjustment” “war on terror”. 28 April – Detainees are moved at Guantánamo. 7 October – The USA leads military from Camp X-Ray to Camp Delta. 3 July – The US Department of action against the Taleban 1 August – A Justice Department Defense announces that President government and al-Qa’ida in memorandum advises that the Bush has made six Guantánamo Afghanistan. President can authorize torture, that detainees eligible for trial by military 13 November – President Bush interrogators may cause severe pain commission. Two of the six were issues a Military Order, which allows before crossing the threshold to subsequently released without charge for the indefinite detention without torture, and that there is “a significant or trial to the UK. charge of non-US citizens suspected range” of cruel, inhuman or degrading July – The International Committee of involvement in terrorism and acts that would not amount to torture of the Red Cross, the only organization prohibits such detainees from seeking and therefore not be prosecutable with access to the Guantánamo any remedy in any US, foreign or under a US law prohibiting torture by detainees, reveals its concern about international court. Any trial would be US agents outside the USA. the serious impact the indefinite by military commission – an executive 2 December – Secretary of Defense detentions is having on the body, not an independent court. Donald Rumsfeld approves interroga- psychological health of the detainees. 28 December – A Justice tion techniques for discretionary use Department memorandum advises at Guantánamo that include hooding, that because Guantánamo Bay is not stripping, sensory deprivation, sovereign US territory, the federal isolation, stress positions and the use courts should not be able to consider of dogs to “induce stress”. He rescinds habeas corpus petitions from “enemy this blanket approval six weeks later, aliens” detained at the base. stating that his authorization of such techniques should be sought on a case-by-case basis. 2 Close Guantánamo – symbol of injustice © DoD Detainees in orange jumpsuits sit in a holding area at Camp X-Ray at Guantánamo © US DoD Bay, January 2002. of the iceberg, the most visible – albeit far from Governments have a duty to protect the safety of A full list of Amnesty transparent – part of a global detention web that the USA the public. They should take all reasonable and lawful International’s documents has spun in the “war on terror”. steps to prevent acts of terror and bring to justice those on Guantánamo, responsible for committing or planning such acts. But referenced in this briefing by their AI Index Most of the detainees glimpsed in their orange governments also have a duty to do this in a framework number (for example, jumpsuits have been in Guantánamo for years. If of protecting the human rights of us all. AMR 51/009/2002), the authorities have evidence that these men have can be found at: committed crimes, they should charge and try Guantánamo is emblematic of the US government’s http://web.amnesty.org/ them. If they do not have such evidence, they should failure to fulfil that duty. It is a legal and moral disgrace. It pages/guantanamobay- library-eng release them. should be closed. 28 June – The US Supreme Court 25 May – Amnesty International 10 June – Three detainees die at rules in Rasul v. Bush that US courts calls for Guantánamo to be closed. Guantánamo, apparently after can consider challenges to the legality The call is subsequently joined by UN committing suicide. of the detention of the Guantánamo experts, former US Presidents Carter 29 June – The US Supreme Court, in detainees. and Clinton, heads of state from Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, rules that the 7 July – The Pentagon announces Europe and elsewhere, and other military commissions as constituted the formation of the Combatant human rights and legal organizations. under the 2001 Military Order are Status Review Tribunals – panels of June – A military investigation finds illegal. three military officers allowed to rely “no evidence of torture or inhumane 6 September – President Bush on secret and coerced evidence treatment” at Guantánamo, while announces the transfer to against detainees denied legal confirming that methods used against Guantánamo of 14 detainees who had representation and presumed to be detainees included use of loud music, been held in secret CIA-run “black “enemy combatants” unless they prove strobe lighting, extremes of sites” for up to four and a half years. otherwise. temperature, sleep deprivation, 17 October – President Bush signs November – A challenge brought exposure to dogs and isolation. into law the Military Commissions Act, on behalf of Yemeni detainee Salim 30 December – President Bush which undermines basic principles of Ahmed Hamdan in a federal court signs into law the Detainee Treatment justice, and announces that the Act leads to the suspension of trials by Act of 2005, which bans the use of will allow the CIA’s secret detention military commission. cruel, inhuman or degrading programme to continue. treatment of detainees but severely October/November – The curtails the right of Guantánamo government seeks to have all pending detainees to judicial review of the habeas corpus petitions filed on lawfulness or conditions of their behalf of Guantánamo detainees prior detention. to the enactment of the Military Commission Act thrown out of court. AI Index: AMR 51/001/2007 3 WHO ARE THE GUANTÁNAM ost of the Guantánamo detainees are Muslims. Almost all of the detainees have been held without MThey come from Africa, Asia, Europe and the charge for years. Some have had no contact with their Middle East. Some were arrested in or near conflict families whatsoever, others have received occasional, zones; others were picked up far from any fighting in often heavily censored, letters. Some have children they countries as disparate as Bosnia and Herzegovina and have never met. Egypt, Gambia and Indonesia. Some had jobs, others were students or unemployed. Some have children, Amnesty International has issued many Case Sheets others were children themselves when arrested. on Guantánamo detainees, at least 17 of whom have been released or transferred to the custody of their Now they are sharing the distress of indefinite home government. These action documents seek to detention, isolation, ill-treatment, and numerous other protect the detainees – when the world knows about abuses of their fundamental rights.