UNITED STATES NEWS

First UN investigator at US detention center at Guantanamo says detainees face cruel treatment

Jun 26, 2023, 1:37 PM | Updated: 2:04 pm

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The first U.N. independent investigator to visit the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay said Monday the 30 men held there are subject “to ongoing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.”

The investigator, Irish law professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, said at a news conference launching her 23-page report to the U.N. Human Rights Council that the 2001 attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania that killed nearly 3,000 people were “crimes against humanity.” But she said the U.S. use of torture and rendition against alleged perpetrators and their associates in the years right after the attacks violated international human rights law.

Ní Aoláin said her visit marked the first time a U.S, administration has allowed a U.N. investigator to visit the facility, which opened in 2002.

She praised the Biden administration for leading by example by opening up Guantanamo and “being prepared to address the hardest human rights issues,” and urged other countries that have barred U.N. access to detention facilities to follow suit. And she said she was given access to everything she asked for, including holding meetings at the facility in Cuba with “high value” and “non-high value” detainees.

The United States said in a submission to the Human Rights Council on the report’s findings that the special investigator’s findings “are solely her own” and “the United States disagrees in significant respects with many factual and legal assertions” in her report.

Ní Aoláin said “significant improvements” have been made to the confinement of detainees, but expressed “serious concerns about the continued detention of 30 men, who she said face severe insecurity, suffering and anxiety. She cited examples including near constant surveillance, forced removal from their cells and unjust use of restraints.

“I observed that after two decades of custody, the suffering of those detained is profound, and it’s ongoing,” the U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism said. “Every single detainee I met with lives with the unrelenting harms that follow from systematic practices of rendition, torture and arbitrary detention. ”

Ní Aoláin, concurrently a professor at the University of Minnesota and at Queens University in Belfast, Northern Ireland, said that for many detainees the line between past and present “is exceptionally thin” and for some “it’s simply nonexistent” because “their past experiences of torture live with them in the present without any obvious end in sight, including because they have not received any adequate torture rehabilitation to date.”

She made a long series of recommendations and said the prison at Guantanamo Bay should be closed.

The U.S. response, submitted by the American ambassador to the Human Rights Council, Michele Taylor, said Ní Aoláin was the first U.N. special rapporteur to visit Guantanamo and had been given “unprecedented access” with “the confidence that the conditions of confinement at Guantanamo Bay are humane and reflect the United States’ respect for and protection of human rights for all who are within our custody.”

“Detainees live communally and prepare meals together; receive specialized medical and psychiatric care; are given full access to legal counsel; and communicate regularly with family members,” the U.S. statement said.

“We are nonetheless carefully reviewing the (special rapporteur’s) recommendations and will take any appropriate actions, as warranted,” it said.

The United States said the Biden administration has made “significant progress” toward closing Guantanamo, it is looking to find suitable locations for the remaining detainees eligible for transfer.

“For those few not yet eligible for transfer, we conduct periodic reviews to determine whether continued detention under the law of war is warranted,” it said, while proceedings for detainees subject to criminal prosecutions continue in military commissions.

United States News

Associated Press

New GOP-favored Georgia congressional map nears passage as the end looms for redistricting session

ATLANTA (AP) — A Georgia special session to redraw congressional and legislative voting district maps is likely to end Thursday after a House committee on Wednesday advanced a Republican-favored congressional map that targets Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath’s current district. However, the wrangling is unlikely to end there, with those who brought the challenges that […]

31 minutes ago

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the White House Tribal Nations Summit at the Department of ...

Associated Press

Biden’s campaign will not commit yet to participating in general election debates in 2024

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — President Joe Biden’s campaign is not yet committing to general election debates next year, the latest sign that a staple of modern White House campaigns may not be in play in 2024. Quentin Fulks, Biden’s top deputy campaign manager, told reporters Wednesday that the president’s reelection campaign would “look at the […]

34 minutes ago

Associated Press

Nevada grand jury indicts 6 fake Donald Trump electors

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada grand jury indicted six Republicans who submitted certificates to Congress falsely declaring Donald Trump the winner of the 2020 presidential election in their state, making Nevada the third to seek charges against so-called “fake electors.” Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford began investigating the fake electors last month. He said […]

41 minutes ago

Associated Press

Juanita Castro, anti-communist sister of Cuban leaders Fidel and Raul, dies in Miami at 90

MIAMI (AP) — Juanita Castro, the sister of Cuban rulers Fidel and Raúl Castro who worked with the CIA against their communist government, has died in Miami at 90. Florida had been her home since shortly after fleeing the island nearly 60 years ago. Journalist María Antonieta Collins, who co-wrote Juanita Castro’s 2009 book, “Fidel […]

43 minutes ago

Associated Press

Police: Suspect dead amid reports of multiple victims in shooting at University of Nevada, Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Police said a suspect was found dead Wednesday as officers responded what officials of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, called a “confirmed active shooter” on campus. The university said on X, formerly Twitter, the shooter was at the Beam Hall, Frank and Estella Building, home of UNLV’s Lee Business School, […]

54 minutes ago

FILE - Republican presidential candidates from left, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov....

Associated Press

Four GOP candidates will be on the debate stage, while Trump holds a fundraiser. Follow live updates

Four Republican presidential hopefuls — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — will be participating in Wednesday night’s debate in Alabama. The early front-runner for the GOP nomination, former President Donald Trump, will be holding a fundraiser in Florida instead. […]

55 minutes ago

Sponsored Articles

Follow @KTAR923...

The best ways to honor our heroes on Veterans Day and give back to the community

Veterans Day is fast approaching and there's no better way to support our veterans than to donate to the Military Assistance Mission.

...

Dierdre Woodruff

Interest rates may have peaked. Should you buy a CD, high-yield savings account, or a fixed annuity?

Interest rates are the highest they’ve been in decades, and it looks like the Fed has paused hikes. This may be the best time to lock in rates for long-term, low-risk financial products like fixed annuities.

Follow @KTAR923...

The 2023 Diamondbacks are a good example to count on the underdog

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the World Series as a surprise. That they made the playoffs at all, got past the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card round, swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS and won two road games in Philadelphia to close out a full seven-game NLCS went against every expectation. Now, […]

First UN investigator at US detention center at Guantanamo says detainees face cruel treatment