Negative Quiddity: Guantanamo Detainees

Elizabeth O’Shea has written an editorial for the Sydney Morning Herald, one of the leading newspapers in Australia. She reminds readers that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp "represents an affront to the bedrock principles that underpin Western legal systems," in such matters as "freedom from arbitrary arrest, the right to a fair trail and the presumption of innocence." She notes that the New York Times has reported that of 779 prisons, 600 have been release to date.

O’Shea reminds readers that one of Barack Obama’s first acts as president was to pledge to close Guantanamo within a year, yet after three years, 171 men are still incarcerated. "Only three were released in the past year, and only one left alive; the other two left in body bags." Of the 171 who are still imprisoned, "89 have been cleared for release," yet a congressional bill passed in 2011 blocked "the release of these men by cutting off funds for their transfer or release."
Ominously, she mentions:
"Another 46 detainees are classified as ''indefinite detainees'': men the US has no evidence to charge but who nonetheless are classified as too dangerous for release until the cessation of hostilities. It is not clear if hostilities will ever cease. "This leaves 36 detainees, a group that should be slated for trial, though "it seems a mere six are facing criminal charges." They face a military tribunal, which is not exactly a court in the sense that the accused have restricted rights compared to a genuine court.

So Guantanamo represents a few paltry prosecutions in an operation that "the Washington Post estimates the cost of the camp at close to $2 billion

Due process has not been granted these prisoners. Torture, "including beatings, the use of stress positions and psychological torment" were employed. "Many US officials have used weasel words to absolve themselves, but there is no denying this treatment is in breach of the Convention Against Torture."　"Eight of the 779 detainees have died in the prison over its 10-year history. Three of these, as reported by Harper's Magazine, were suspected homicides. When the bodies were released, the throats of the men had been cut out and, as such, it was not possible to confirm the cause of death." O’Shea also states that two Australian citizens have been held at Guantanamo, and a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee has received only silence from the Australian government. It was through WikiLeaks that the information was obtained about what went wrong.

O’Shea also notes that "President Obama has just signed the National Defense Authorization Act, which allows indefinite detention of people suspected to be associated with terrorism. This far-reaching legislation was signed on New Year's Eve with very media little attention."

Summarized from:

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/the-lingering-stain-of-guantanamo-20120110-1ptfy.html
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