January, 09 2017, 10:45am 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
15 Years on, Obama Must Close Guantanamo Before It's Too Late - Reprieve
International human rights organization Reprieve, which represents detainees at Guantanamo Bay, has urged President Obama to take steps to close the prison ahead of the 15th anniversary of its opening (Wednesday 11th).
President-elect Donald Trump has announced his intention to keep Guantanamo open. Last week, he tweeted that "there should be no further releases" from the prison.
The Bush Administration opened the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay on January 11th, 2002. Among the hundreds imprisoned there - without charge or trial - were children, journalists, victims of mistaken identity, and people who were tortured into false 'confessions'.
On taking office in January 2009, President Obama signed an executive order to shut down the prison. However, his Administration has faced criticism over lengthy delays in releasing prisoners - many of whom were unanimously cleared by six US federal agencies, under a system set up by Obama himself.
Some 55 prisoners remain at the prison today. Among them are Haroon Gul - an Afghan refugee who was imprisoned in 2002, after US forces mistakenly identified him as a different man; and Khaled Qassim - a Yemeni man who was caught up in a sweep of arrests in Afghanistan in 2001. Local forces in the area were offered large sums of money at the time in exchange for Arab prisoners.
Commenting, Shelby Sullivan-Bennis - a Reprieve lawyer for several Guantanamo prisoners - said: "It should disgust every American - Donald Trump included - that for 15 years and counting, the US has held scores of prisoners without charge or trial. The vast majority were not even captured on the battlefield and posed no threat whatsoever to the US or its allies. We have to hope that after January 20th, Trump will look at the facts and see that Gitmo's continued existence is a shocking affront to the US Constitution. In the meantime, Obama must do everything in his power to close the prison - before it's too late."
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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