UN Report: US Avoids Trials of Gitmo Detainees Because It Fears 'Consequences' of Torture Program

Established in 2002 by the George W. Bush administration, the Guantánamo prison, more often referred to as a detention camp, has held 780 prisoners since its formation. The Bush administration deemed them "enemy combatants" and used that as legal justification for denying them rights afforded to prisoners of war under international law.

The UN Rapporteur on Counterterrorism and Human Rights, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin recently published a scathing report on human rights abuses at the Guantánamo Bay camp, and the continuing arbitrary indefinite detention some detainees are experiencing even after leaving the infamous military prison.

Aoláin interviewed current and former detainees, victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and human rights lawyers during her investigation.

The report detailed delayed justice for victims of the 9/11 attacks and the continued injustice for torture victims, with a focus on indefinite detention.

While Aoláin acknowledges there have been strides within Guantánamo to improve the condition of detainees, she stated their continued confinement without trial, and the US government’s unwillingness to prosecute those who engaged in torture may be the motivation behind the indefinite detention.

“The [Special Rapporteur] observes with profound concern that of the 30 men remaining at Guantánamo, 19 men have never been charged with a single crime—in some cases, after more than 20 years of detention in US custody,” the report reads.

“The [Special Rapporteur] is concerned that the continued internment of certain detainees follows from the unwillingness of the authorities to face the consequences of the torture and other ill-treatment to which the detainees were subjected and not from any ongoing threat they are believed to pose.”

She also writes that while access to legal counsel has been increased for detainees, they have still been prevented from talking to their lawyers at seemingly arbitrary times.

But even when detainees are removed from Guantánamo, their nightmare doesn’t necessarily end there. Aoláin writes that when detainees could not be returned to their homes, they were sent to third countries where abuses and indefinite detention often continued.

The report found “there is little meaningful engagement with the detainees and their legal representatives concerning transfer, which appears to be viewed as an inter-governmental problem to be solved, rather than a rights-endowing process for persons who are torture victims and survivors.”

In two countries in particular, Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates, it was pointed out that detainees in Kazakhstan “effectively remain under house arrest” and indefinitely detained. A US media outlet spoke to two detainees in Kazakhstan who complained they had not been given any legal status, thus preventing them from obtaining an ID card, health care, education, a path to citizenship, or the ability to leave the country.

The individuals indicated they have to call and ask for a chaperone to leave their apartments, and have not been able to reunite with their families, despite living in Kazakhstan for nearly a decade.

The findings outlined that the restrictions were implemented despite the fact that both detainees “have never been charged with a crime and have been released and deemed no longer a threat to the United States.”

“We were handed over by the American government to the militias of Kazakhstan,” one detainee said. “Not a government that has international law or a law that protects the citizens.”

The report states “there is a legal and moral obligation for the US government to use all of its diplomatic and legal resources to facilitate (re)transfer of these men, with meaningful assurance and support to other countries,” adding that beyond resettlement and repatriations, the US should develop “a formal and effective follow-up system” as part of its obligations.

In a statement given to US media, the State Department denied they have any obligation to detainees transferred to another country.

“Once security assurances have expired, and pending any specific renegotiation of assurances, it largely falls to the discretion of the host country to determine what security measures they continue to implement,” a State Department spokesperson said.