Human rights groups renew calls for closing Guantanamo Bay prison

Nearly 160 international rights groups have called on the United States to close down its detention center in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay.

The human rights groups, including Oxfam America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, made the plea in a letter to US President Joe Biden on Wednesday, on the occasion of the 21st anniversary of the opening of the infamous military prison.

“Guantanamo continues to cause escalating and profound damage to the aging and increasingly ill men still detained indefinitely there, most without charge and none having received a fair trial. It has also devastated their families and communities,” they said.

They further charged that the controversial detention facility stoked “bigotry, stereotyping and stigma,” adding that by exemplifying those social divisions, Guantanamo “risks facilitating additional rights violations.”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also described the prison as a “global symbol of injustice, abuse and disregard for the rule of law.”

“Guantanamo continues to impose enormous costs to both our values and our resources. It is long past time for this shameful episode in American history to be brought to a close,” the nonprofit rights group said.

January 11 marks 21 years since the opening of Guantanamo, commonly known as “Gitmo.” The prison is still operating as a remnant of the US “war on terror” that started after the suspicious 9/11 attacks in 2001, despite promises made to close the facility.

Guantanamo became synonymous with prisoner abuse by the United States in the early years of the so-called war on terror, gaining global notoriety for the widespread use of torture and other violations of human rights that took place in it.

ME