MOSCOW (Sputnik) – US President Barack Obama said Thursday he was "not ready to concede" that the US military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will stay open after the end of his presidential term.
"I am not ready to concede that it may still remain open because we are still working diligently to continue to shrink the population," Obama told a press conference in Vientiane, Laos.
In the wake of 9/11 attacks the US government opened a detention center for terror suspects at the military base at Guantanamo Bay in 2002. As suspects deemed dangerous may be subjected to indefinite detention without charges of trial in the prison, it is largely criticized by domestic and international watchdogs as violating human rights. The detention center is also notorious for torture and abuse.
In 2008 Obama, then a presidential hopeful, made a pre-election pledge to close the Guantanamo prison by 2010, however, it remains operational so far.
