I was held in Guantanamo detention centre for 14 years with out ever being charged with against the law. I used to be despatched there after I was 19. I didn’t know why I used to be being held, what I had executed to be imprisoned, or after I could be launched.
Like most of the different males at Guantanamo, I believed that the US forces who held me would dwell as much as their very own beliefs of legislation and justice and grant me the fitting to defend myself and show my innocence. That by no means occurred.
As a substitute, I used to be subjected to torture and continuous harassment. I fought to be handled humanely and to be granted fundamental human rights, and after 14 years was launched. All through my imprisonment, I imagined that at some point the world would be taught what occurred to us and would demand accountability and justice. I assumed as soon as folks knew, they’d shut this deplorable place.
It has been virtually 9 years since I used to be launched. All this time, I’ve not stopped writing and giving interviews about what occurred to me. The world is aware of, and but, Guantanamo continues to be functioning.
Earlier this month, we marked the twenty third anniversary of its creation. At present we mark the final day in workplace of yet one more US president who promised to shut it and didn’t. One has to surprise after all the reports by the United Nations and numerous human rights organisations, media stories, documentaries, books, and so on – why is that this image of injustice nonetheless standing?
Guantanamo was established within the aftermath of 9/11, a tragic occasion that profoundly shook the world. In its wake, the US launched the so-called world “battle on terror”, a marketing campaign ostensibly geared toward combating terrorism however which, in actuality, legalised torture, undermined worldwide legislation, and dehumanised a whole religion neighborhood.
Located on the island of Cuba, outdoors US authorized jurisdiction, Guantanamo detention centre was deliberately designed to avoid constitutional protections and worldwide norms, changing into a spot the place detainees could possibly be held indefinitely with out cost or trial.
The idea of indefinite detention is a direct affront to the ideas of justice. Holding people with out cost or trial defies the very basis of authorized techniques worldwide. It denies detainees the chance to defend themselves and topics them to years — generally a long time — of struggling with no decision in sight.
Guantanamo grew to become a blueprint for different types of extrajudicial detention, torture, and human rights abuses worldwide. The jail’s legacy is obvious within the proliferation of CIA black websites, the normalisation of Islamophobia, and the erosion of worldwide norms designed to guard human dignity.
The worldwide battle on terror — with Guantanamo as its most notorious image — institutionalised insurance policies that dehumanised Muslims. It fuelled Islamophobic rhetoric, justified invasive surveillance programmes, and stigmatised whole communities as potential threats.
The US took the lead on all this, and plenty of states adopted go well with, utilizing US “battle on terror” rhetoric to justify assaults on entire communities. The results have been devastating for Muslim and different weak communities.
At its peak, Guantanamo held roughly 680 males and boys, lots of whom had been bought as “terrorists” to US forces in change for renumeration. That is what occurred to me.
As of at the moment, 15 males stay in Guantanamo. Some have been cleared for launch however proceed to languish in limbo, a testomony to the failure of US techniques to uphold even probably the most fundamental human rights. For these males, every single day is a continuation of psychological and bodily torment — a state of being neither free nor formally accused.
We’ve got heard many guarantees that Guantanamo will likely be closed for the previous 16 years. US President Barack Obama famously signed an govt order on his second day in workplace in 2009 ordering the closure of the power. Then-Vice President Joe Biden was standing proper subsequent to him, applauding. When Biden grew to become president in 2021, he additionally made the identical promise and he additionally broke it.
The jail nonetheless features at an annual value of round $540m.
The continued operation of Guantanamo isn’t just a failure of coverage however an ethical stain on the US. It stands as a obtrusive contradiction of the beliefs of liberty, justice, and human rights that the US claims to champion. Its existence undermines US credibility on the worldwide stage and emboldens authoritarian regimes to justify their very own abuses.
With each anniversary of Guantanamo’s opening, I watch for the worldwide neighborhood to get up and demand motion to shut the navy jail, present justice to its victims, and guarantee accountability for these liable for its creation and perpetuation. Yearly I’m dissatisfied.
The Guantanamo navy jail is greater than against the law towards its detainees and their households. For over 20 years, it has symbolised systematic torture, arbitrary detention, and the weakening of the worldwide human rights regime. Guantanamo violates the Geneva Conventions and embodies components of crimes towards humanity by way of its systematic abuse of primarily Muslim detainees.
As a brand new administration takes workplace in Washington, I’ve the identical message for them as I had for his or her predecessors:
Shut Guantanamo. Shut down the power and finish the apply of indefinite detention.
Safe justice. Launch these cleared for switch and grant truthful trials to the remainder.
Guarantee accountability. Examine and maintain accountable these liable for authorising torture, extrajudicial detention, and different abuses.
Acknowledge and apologise. Challenge a proper acknowledgment and apology for the injustices dedicated.
Present reparations. Compensate former detainees for the hurt inflicted upon them.
Shuttering Guantanamo isn’t just about closing a bodily location; it’s about closing a darkish chapter of historical past. It’s about reaffirming the ideas of justice, dignity, and human rights that must be upheld for all folks, no matter their origin or beliefs. Guantanamo should not see one other anniversary.
The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
