February, 08 2017, 11:45am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Reprieve's London office can be contacted on: communications [at] reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 207 553 8140.,Reprieve US,, based in New York City, can be contacted on Katherine [dot] oshea [at] reprieve.org
Guantanamo Set to Grow: Reprieve Comment
According to a memo seen by the New York Times, the Trump White House is nearing completion of an order that would direct the Pentagon to bring more detainees to the Guantanamo Bay prison.
Commenting, Shelby Sullivan-Bennis, a Reprieve US attorney who represents multiple Guantanamo inmates, said:
"The detention center at Guantanamo has been counterproductive for everyone involved. Based on poorly-vetted intelligence, it has housed countless detainees without charge or trial whom the US Government has openly admitted were not who they were originally thought to be. Cases of mistaken identity have continued to plague the detention regime at Guantanamo until as recently as last year.
"Guantanamo has been an unending headache for the US military, the US Department of Justice, the US Courts, and the rest of us. Guantanamo 2.0 would be a national security disaster, fueling ISIS recruitment for years to come. It is another toxic policy that will distract and dismay but serve no useful purpose. President Trump seems determined to squander his Presidency on a futile fight with the courts, the law and basic human decency."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
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