President Obama has released his administration\u2019s plan to close Guant\u00e1namo Bay after 14 years of detention without trial and torture at the prison camp \u2013 and 7 years after he promised to close it.<\/p>\n
Since 2002, 779 prisoners have been imprisoned at Guant\u00e1namo, including at least 15 children. The vast majority of them were sold to the US when the military was offering large bounties for capture of terrorism suspects \u2013 typically, around $5,000 for each man. 8 of the men held at the prison camp have been convicted by a Guant\u00e1namo military commission, and just 1 man has been prosecuted in a US federal court. No one has been held accountable for the illegal detention and abuse at the prison camp.<\/p>\n
Cori Crider, Reprieve\u2019s director and Guantanamo attorney, comments on Obama\u2019s plan to close Guant\u00e1namo.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor most of this Presidency, \u2018work with Congress\u2019 has been code for \u2018ain\u2019t gonna happen,\u2019 so it\u2019s far from plain whether the President really aims to force this plan through. If he does, while he is right to try to close Guant\u00e1namo, the plan has various problems.<\/p>\n
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It leaves the door open to hold cleared detainees on U.S. soil without charge or trial, which is contrary to everything that we stand for. Our founding father, Alexander Hamilton, would have been shocked to see us holding men cleared for years by six federal agencies, on American soil without charge or trial.<\/p>\n
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Hamilton knew that our liberty dies when we sweep human beings under the rug. All the cleared must be released. None should be brought to the U.S. A supermax is no place for them. Reviews for people in \u2018indefinite detention\u2019 should be sped up. Those facing charges must be put before the same regular courts that try terrorism suspects every day. Only then will we have kept the promise recited by every American school child each morning: to defend liberty and justice for all.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
WATCH – Cori Crider’s final visit to Shaker Aamer in Guant\u00e1namo, before he was finally released to the UK.<\/p>\n